


Spectre Shadow

by malixace



Series: Spectre Saved [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Cannon Divergence, F/M, FemShep/Nihlus Kryik, Mass Effect 2, The Normandy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2018-02-12 08:16:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 59,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2102226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malixace/pseuds/malixace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shepard's Mission out in the Omega system goes wrong, Nihlus is worried. "It was only supposed to be a routine misson!"  yelling at Anderson. Lots of sadness, and tears, the Normandy is lost. Everyone believes that Shepard is dead including Nihlus until he gets a message from Tali one day. Told from Nihlus's POV. Rated Mature for language and possible usage of the 'F' word.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ok. part two of my little monster. first chapter, working on the second, still getting used to the new work schedule. apologies for it not being very long, to me it felt like that would be fine for the first chapter. had my friend read over it and give the ok, so if we have missed anything i'll more than likely catch it when i log in again -_-;;. until then please enjoy!!
> 
> Disclaimer: i won nothing i just write the fan fiction. any and all names places and things are used to progress the story not for commercial use. all respect to the respective owners. thank you for your time.

“You said it was a routine patrol and then the Normandy gets attacked!” I exclaimed at Anderson in the human embassy.

“Nihlus there was no way to predict that the Normandy would have gotten attacked. I’m sure that everything is fine” he tried to reassure me as I paced. He was just as nervous as I was and just as impatient for word from the Alliance.  “Shepard is one of those that’s good at pulling a miracle out of her ass”

“Then why hasn’t your fleet checked in yet?” I asked turning on him. He was staring at his terminal watching Alliance channels, the Alliance fleet has responded to the distress signal that the Normandy had sent out, but there hadn’t been any word on survivors or the overall status of the Normandy.

“I don’t know Nihlus…wait a minute” he said as a priority message came through from the fleet.

“What is it?” I asked though the look on his face told me more than really wanted to know. “Anderson?”

“The Normandy…was lost over Alchera” he said closing the terminal and standing.

“Survivors?”

“Only those that were in the escape pods”

“Shepard?”

“…Nihlus go home, take a break, Hackett says he’ll send more information as soon as he’s able” Anderson said walking passed me, there was pain in his voice as he walked out of the Embassy.

My mandibles tightened in pain and anger as I walked out of the Embassy and headed for mine and Shepard’s apartment. Big enough for both of us, dextro and levo amino foods and a nice king sized bed. I sat down at my personal terminal and typed up quick messages to everyone that was on the Normandy. Garrus and Tali were the first to respond, then Williams, and Wrex. Joker and Liara were the last to answer, their replies only proving what I had figured out from the way Anderson talked. All Liara would tell me that Shepard hadn’t been recovered yet and that she was working on it. Working on it? What was this Asari getting into that she was ‘working on it’? I had hoped that Liara knew what she was doing, because I sure as hell didn’t.

About a week later, what was left of the crew, Anderson, and Shepard’s parents gathered in the Embassy for a small memorial for those lost over Alchera; Shepard’s name was among them. I stood off to the side and watched, my heart ached and I was angry. Whatever or whoever attacked the Normandy was going to pay, and I swore I would do everything in my power to make sure that justice would be served. “Nihlus?” Captain Shepard said snapping out of my thoughts.

“Captain Shepard. I’m sorry was there something I could do for you?” I asked trying my best to be nice.

“Actually I was wondering if there was anything that you needed.” She said her voice racked with the pain of losing a child before their time. Her eyes were red from silent tears from trying to stay strong.

“There isn’t anything I need Captain, thank you” I said taking the Captain in my arms and hugging her. I could feel her shoulders tremble as the flood gates broke and she couldn’t hold it in anymore. Mr. Shepard made his way over and rubbed her back, he managed to keep his cool as the Captain wept.

“Thank you” he said lowly to me as he took the Captain into his arms and began to walk away. “If there is anything you need Nihlus, let us know”

“Uh…yes sir” I nodded as they walked away.

“The Captain told all of us the same thing, but she didn’t start crying, damn Nihlus” Joker tried and failed.

“Joker” Tali said sternly

“Sorry”

“What do we do now?” Garrus asked

“We do what we can, and get ready from the Reapers as best as we can. Not much else we can do.” I said rubbing my neck.

“How are we supposed to do that with Shepard and the Normandy gone?” Tali asked “The Alliance and possibly the Council as well more than likely won’t let us do much without them”

“Tali’s right, I heard they were going to disband everyone” Garrus added

“If that’s the case then we may have no choice.” I said.

“Joker, Williams. Report to Alliance Command Tower for new orders” Hackett called from where he was talking with Anderson.

“And it starts” Williams said as her and Joker grimaced leaving our little group.

“Ya know who I haven’t seen since the attack, is Liara. Where is she?” Wrex said finally joining the conversation.

“She said she was doing something for Hackett. That was a couple days after the attack, when we were recovered” Garrus said.

“She didn’t tell me anything” Tali said

“I’m not sure, but whatever it is, it better be worth missing the memorial” I said, my thoughts drifting back to taking out whoever it was that attacked the Normandy.

“I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news everyone” Anderson said walking up to us. We already knew what was happening after Joker and Williams left, and it starts, as Williams said earlier.

“David is this really the time?” I asked we were all still hurting.

“It’s better to get it done now Nihlus.” He said and began to explain what was going on. Of course I would be staying on the Citadel I was a Spectre, but the others would either have to go back to their old occupations. Anderson had offered Tali a small job at the Citadel, but she declined saying she would go back to the Flotilla for the time being. He also offered Wrex to stay here but he as well declined, for the most part it was ‘No Shepard, no deal’ with anything; he eventually made his way back to Tuchunka.   

Garrus ultimately went back to C-Sec; after a while started back into his Spectre training. Expressing his ‘dislike’ for the bureaucratic red tape and the Council starting to push back the warnings of Reapers, he disappeared to Omega somewhere. These past few weeks made outrunning an Asari Justicar seem like a run on the treadmill. Liara had finally sent me a message saying she was settling in on Illium as an information broker. Multiple messages from Joker and his ranting on how they grounded him at Arcturus, he was going insane. “Joker. It can’t be that bad.” I said. I had an inkling of what he was feeling. There wasn’t anything he could have done; no one could have predicted the attack and the force of it.

“Yeah well you weren’t there and you’re not here. At least you’re the Citadel you can do something. I get barked at every hour almost just for mentioning Reapers. And they won’t let me fly!” he said.

“Anderson and I are trying Joker, but no one wants to listen. It’s almost just as bad as where you are but instead we get ignored and swept under the rug” I explained.

“Flight Lieutenant!”

“Goddamnit! All right, later Nihlus, maybe if you can do some of the yelling then maybe someone might listen to you” he said before cutting the link. I shook my head rubbing my face. This was beginning to be more stressful than all that I had ever been through.

I returned to the apartment Shepard and I had gotten together, now it seemed so empty. It was just big enough for the two of us, though I had to draw the line at getting a Varren. Liara had sent me a few messages not to sell or change residences; I had tried to ask her why though she just said deflected. I filled my days with missions and as much digging as I could about what happened, who or what initiated the attack, and why Liara was acting strange. I stayed on the ship where Captain Shepard was stationed a few times to check in on her and her husband. They had accepted me into their family because of their daughter and threatened double chores to anyone who had any objections with me being on the ship. The Captain and Mr. Shepard were coping, but they were still hurting. “She’s working through most of it, she has to” Mr. Shepard said as we sat in the mess away from most of the marines.

“I understand it’s been a stressful few months” I said picking at the measly dextro-amino rations they had.

“Stressful is putting is lightly. It’s like everything Amalia had worked for is getting hushed and pushed out of everyone’s minds…” he started before shutting his eyes at the memory of his daughter.

“Anderson and I are having a time at the Citadel with the same thing” I said my heart started to ache. We sat and talked until the Captain came in then talked a while longer. She was glad to see me though it would be brief, I was happy to stop by to see them myself. After another hour or so we said my farewells, I was glad to know they were doing well though it would be sometime before we ever recovered from not having Amalia around anymore.

“Take care Nihlus. Please don’t be a stranger” Captain Shepard said with a sad, yet strong smile.

“Yeah, gives her more reason to push around the recruits with certain ideas” Mr. Shepard said with a laugh.

“Thank you, both of you” I said leaving the ship on my shuttle.

 

/     /    /

 

For two years Anderson and I yelled, kicked and cursed but everyone continued to ignore us. It was worse for Anderson since he was now on the Council which tied his hands in a lot of cases. I throttled my duffle bag against one of the walls in the apartment as I entered after getting back to the Citadel after once again out running a Justicar. I really had to consider passing on the missions that sent me into Asari space to another Spectre. This was getting quite ridiculous. I patched myself up as best as I could without having to go to a doctor otherwise I could just lay in bed for a few days. Hackett had sent Shepard’s dog tags to Liara, she had sent them back to the Captain and Mr. Shepard who had them sent them to me for some reason. I kept them on a shelf over a few pictures we had taken after the Battle of the Citadel while on shore leave. Painful memories and yet they kept me going from day to day. “I should have been there with you” I said to myself staring at the dog tags. “Then maybe we could have saved more people and you’d still be here” my private terminal beeped with an incoming message, I ignored it feeling the pang in my chest of loss, anger and sadness. I resolved myself and decided to go to Alchera and see the wreckage. On the inside I suppose I was afraid of what I might find, or what I might not find. In the end it would be the best thing to do, after all it had been two years.

“Dammit Nihlus answer your damned terminal!” the voice was Tali’s coming from my terminal. I looked over at it for a moment then walked over to see Tali. Her eyes shone through the face plate of her suit, she wasn’t happy but then it seemed as if she had been crying.

“Tali…what can I do for you?” I asked sitting down bracing my side, it still stung from the blaster fire from the Justicar.

“What have you been doing?” she asked at how painfully I sat down.

“Out running a Justicar.”

“Oh…anyway, it’s Shepard, Nihlus she’s alive!” she almost shrieked. Her voice was a mix of sadness, happiness and as much anger as I had.

“That’s impossible. Are you sure it just isn’t another clone?” I asked

“I’m sure Nihlus, she remembered the Geth Data she had given me, and…well you won’t like it” Tali said.

“Won’t like what?”

“…”

“Tali’Zorah, what won’t I like?” I asked again.

“She is investigating the attacks on the human colonies out here in the Terminus, but she is with…”

“TALI!”

“She’s working with Cerberus. The two she was with wanted to take Veetor but she wouldn’t let them, for which I am glad” she explained.

“Cerberus? I had heard about the colonies but Tali they made their choice…” I said

“I know, but Nihlus, I could tell she didn’t trust them. I wish I could have gone with her but I’ve got too much going on for the Flotilla. I sent you a copy of Veetor’s data along with one to Shepard. Collectors have been attacking the colonies…you should talk to her yourself though, see what’s really going on” she said “It was good to see her though…talk to you later Nihlus” she sounded as if she might start crying again when the line went black.

I couldn’t believe it. Shepard alive after all this time, working with Cerberus after what they had done just to investigate the missing colonies? I suppose I could understand Spectres and the Alliance weren’t welcome in the Terminus. Maybe this was the only way she could help, or do any preparation for the Reapers. I opened the young Quarian’s data copy, and saw the collectors for myself toting off humans. There she was, at the very end. There were a couple extra scars on her face but it was Shepard, it was too good to be true as she told the Cerberus what for and that Veetor was to go with Tali back to the Flotilla.

A message from Joker had then popped into my inbox with picture attachments, mostly of him, a new ship that looked like the old Normandy with more room, and then of Shepard sticking her tongue out at him giving him the middle finger. _Shepard wishes you were here, me? I have a nice new leather pilot’s seat! Enjoy!_   _8.8_

I stared at the picture of Shepard that was our Shepard for sure; no clone could ever have an attitude like that. My heart raced as I watched my inbox fill with messages from the Captain, Councilor Anderson, Admiral Hackett and from all over. I ignored them for now; all that mattered was the woman in Joker’s picture. My human, was standing there, she was back, my Shepard. My Shepard.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nihlus goes to Alchera to meet with Shepard, brings along her parents, tears and things only Tolkien-ites would know. Nihlus then meets Shepard on the Citadel and joins the crew to stop the collectors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't think i'll ever get used to my new work schedule but here is chapter 2 finally :D  
> i am also a big Tolkien fan so i kind of made my Shepard one too, so the Road goes ever on is in there....yes i am a nerd  
> anywho, please enjoy i know it took me a while but i got it done. 
> 
> Disclaimer: all people places and things that are mentioned are used the progress the story and not for much else. all respect and credit to respective owners especially Tolkien for being the genius that he was :D

     It was about a week later that I had gotten a message from Shepard herself asking me to meet her on Alchera. I was going to go anyway; maybe this would be a good way to find out what was going on. I shot a quick message to her mother; she asked if I would stop by her ship first before heading to the Omega Nebula. I didn’t tell Shepard that part when I replied saying that I would meet here there within the next few days. She was careful how she worded her message, it was as if she knew she were being monitored or something. When I stopped at the Captain’s ship she and Mr. Shepard were waiting for me in the small docking cradle to the main ship. “We’re going to go with you” the Captain said.

    I was taken aback at this, but I couldn’t really tell her no, “Do you really think that would be wise Captain?”

   “No. I’ve already sent her a message but I want to see my child” the Captain said making her way past me and onto my shuttle. I looked at Mr. Shepard; all he could do was shrug and follow his wife. I shook my head and followed them back into my shuttle and leave for Alchera.

  Alchera was a cold planet like Noveria, and definitely not a Turian’s friend. Like most Turians I hated the cold; I made sure my armor was well insulated before we landed. We saw the small Cerberus KODIAK shuttle sitting with its doors open and what appeared to be Shepard sitting on the edge. She noticed us as we came in and continued to count the small glittering things in her hand. I could feel my heart in my throat as we landed. The Captain and Mr. Shepard made sure to bundle up before the door opened and we head out to meet with Shepard. She met us half way with dog tags hanging off the belt to her armor. She stood there and stared at us like she couldn’t believe that we all had come. “Amalia?” the Captain said with tears in her eyes.

  “Mom….dad….I…” Shepard couldn’t get the words out as I hung back a bit and watched.

  “Hannah, wait we don’t know if she’s real” Mr. Shepard said.

  “ _Roads go ever ever on, over rock and under tree, by caves where never sun has shone, by streams that never find the sea; over snow by winter sown and through the merry flowers of June, over grass and over stone, and under mountains of the moon….”_ Shepard started as she broke into tears. Mr. Shepard had to hold himself back before embracing his daughter.

  “ _Roads go ever ever on under cloud and under star, yet feet the wandering have gone turn at least to home afar. Eyes that fire and sword have seen and horror in the halls of stone look at last on meadows green and trees and hill they long have known…._ You’re my daughter” he said finishing the poem.

  “Of all the people I’ve known those two are the only ones I’ve seen memorize Tolkien. Nihlus she **is** our girl” the Captain smiled and joined the others. All I could do was stand and watch; if that was good enough for the Captain and her husband why shouldn’t it be enough for me? Because I was stubborn, as told on more than one occasion.

  “And if you need more proof Nihlus, I still have your bite marks” Amalia said

  “You what? He did what?” Mr. Shepard said surprised. The two women laughed as if it were common knowledge. “Nihlus, what?”

  “I’d ask to prove it but I don’t think you father would appreciate that very much” I said keeping myself from laughing or dying of embarrassment. I respected the Shepards and was just fine with them not knowing right away. My Shepard smiled before taking her parents into another hug.

  “Can you tell us what in all the nine hells in going on though? I had to find out from Hackett, and the stubborn old codger didn’t even tell me until after we had reports from Freedom’s Progress.

  “And why are you with Cerberus? Do you remember what they did to those creatures and not to mention Admiral Kohoku?” I asked.

  “I can’t say much really. I remember being spaced, then waking up in some Cerberus facility. Something called Project Lazarus. The Illusive Man wanted to bring me back just the way I was and everything.” she explained “I had Dr. Chakwas do as many scans as possible to make sure that I was me, I remembered everything, from letting the Rachni Queen go, to having to leave Kaiden behind on Virmire, and then the battle at the Citadel”

  “Do you remember who you chose to be human councilor?” the Captain asked.

  “I chose Anderson. They say he’s doing a good job, but his hands are tied in more ways than one.” She said

  “That’s right, and well hand tying is putting it nicely dear.” The Captain said.

  “What’s all this mess with the Collectors though? Tali said something about a young Quarian that was in the colony when everyone went missing.” I asked

  “The Collectors are abducting human colonies, there might be reaper involvement.”

  “Good luck convincing people of that, everything you and your crew worked at, the council and the Alliance is trying to suppress.” Mr. Shepard said

  “Well all you can do right now is fight the fairies and do what you think is right. Just be careful out there dear.”

  “Fight the fairies…yeah…hahaha chicken wars” Shepard smiled and giggled to herself, Mr. Shepard shook his head knowing what she was talking about.

  We eventually moved into the shuttle where it was a little warmer and talked there. After we were done the Captain and Mr. Shepard made their way back to my shuttle, I had to get them beck before people started to wonder what the Captain was doing with a Turian Spectre. I hung back a moment with my Shepard. She was depressed, confused, and seemed a bit angry. “Amalia?”

  “…It’s nothing” she smiled “Thank you for looking after them Nihlus”

  “It was the least I could do.”

  “…You know I could really use your help…” she said, I had to stop her there.

  “I can’t. Not at the moment anyway.”

  “Oh…okay then” that put her in an ever darker mood

  “I said not at the moment I didn’t say I wouldn’t. When you’re done on Omega come to the Citadel, Anderson is going to want to talk to you, and maybe just maybe he can give you back your Spectre status” I explained holding her face in my talons. She looked up at me and gave me a hopeful smile. “Right now I have to get your parents back and run some kind of damage control.”

  “Okay. I’ll miss you until then. I love you Nihlus” she said

  “I love you too” I nuzzled my forehead against hers, she was the same, the wavelengths were the same.

  “I’ll be in touch” she said

  I didn’t want to leave her like this, but at the moment I had no choice.

 

/   /   /

 

  It was a couple of weeks before I heard that a ship labeled as the SR-2 Normandy was docking down near Zakera Ward. I waited at Captain Bailey’s desk neat the C-Sec posting. “I don’t know why a Spectre would be so interested in something like this?” he said “Can you at least tell me why you’ve come down from your little perch in the Presidium Nihlus?”

  “I could, but then I’d have to kill you” I said as the answer to his question walked in through the doors with Garrus and a Salarian.

  “Well, well, I see and I also see the problem. Says you spent two years dead” Bailey said pulling up some screens on his terminal as I nuzzled my Shepard. The Salarian I think smiled, but I could tell Garrus was getting uncomfortable, tuff shit for him then.

  “Yeah, one of your guys said you could fix that for me” Shepard said with a smile.

  “You do know there is paper work and other things you have to do to get back in the system Shepard” I said trying to not take a certain route.

  “Heh heh yeah apparently spending a year dead is a popular tax dodge. But for you I can save you about two weeks of running aound since you look like you’re a busy woman.  

  “Please, Nihlus? I really do have enough going on and I don’t need two weeks of running to get everything back in order” Shepard whined grabbing my collar and letting herself sag to the floor. Her knees didn’t even touch and all I could do was look at her as if she were a child. “Pllleeeeeaaaassseeeee!!!”

  “You do know she’s going to make a spectacle if you don’t say yes” Garrus added as Shepard let the weight of her armor to finish her trip to the floor. I stood and rolled my eyes.

  “Go ahead Bailey, if it’ll get her to lay off the sweets for a while”

  “Yay...HEY!” she exclaimed standing up quickly

  Bailey laughed and pressed a few buttons on his terminal. “There ya go, all set Commander Shepard. You might want to go up and see the Council; I bet they’re curious to know what their top Spectre has been up to these past couple of years.”

  “Yeah I’ll get right on that” she said as we made our way to a rapid transit station. “Nihlus, this is Dr. Solus and well you already know Garrus”

  “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you face to face doctor. Garrus good to see you as well” I said shaking the doctor’s hand and giving a nod to Garrus.

  “Very nice indeed, Nihlus Kyrik. Shepard speaks highly of you” the Salarian said. He sounded like he had discovered the human drink coffee, though I guess they may have just been his normal behavior.

  “Good to see you too Nihlus” Garrus said

  “Nice scar”

  “Yeah, had three merc bands after me on Omega”

  “So I heard. Shepard I have to get back to the Embassies, the apartment is still in the same place. You Garrus and the doctor go there and relax for a bit before heading up to the embassies. Maybe I can help Anderson convince them to grant you a meeting.” I said giving Shepard a light nuzzle on the cheek.

  “You can try” she smiled and walked off Garrus and Dr. Solus following behind. I saw her stop in a couple of shops before I used the rapid transit to get back to the Embassies.

  “So is it really Shepard?” Anderson asked when I entered the Human Embassy.

  “It is. She remembers where we live, and if the Captain is sure that is good enough for me. Garrus is here as well and she brought a Salarian doctor by the name of Mordin Solus.”  I explained sitting down. “What about the council?”

  “They refuse to even hear me out and don’t even want to hear what Shepard has to say about this whole thing.” Anderson said sitting across from me.

  “With all that I had received from Tali and Garrus I’m pretty sure it’s a good reason, and if whatever is doing is involved with the Reapers…” I started but Anderson stopped me.

  “We both have been kicking that brick wall for the past two years since they started sweeping it all under the rug. There isn’t much more that we’ll be able to do”

  “Unless the Reapers are at out front door like when Sovereign tried to bring them back from Dark space?”

  “Unfortunately yes” he rubbed his face, the man was exhausted and it looked like being Councilor was taking its toll on him. “You know for a Turian you sure do spend a lot of time in the Human Embassy”

  “I’m not fond of my own councilor. Is that a problem?” I asked giving him a flat look.

  “No, not at all hahaha, Udina started to complain the other day” he replied with a laugh. It was a wonder Udina was even still around with all the head aches he supplies to most of everyone. Though I have to admit he is a political man and can work that field better than Anderson in some cases. I still don’t like him very much.

  “Let him complain then” I said as the door opened and Shepard walked in. She was still in her armor “I hope you didn’t leave the doctor alone in our home”

  “Don’t worry I sent them both back to the Normandy, let the others know they have some shore leave” she said. “Anderson, good to see you”

  “You too Shepard” he said

  “Before you ask, no I’m not work _for_ Cerberus. I’m just working with them to try to find out what happened to the human colonies being abducted out in the Terminus.” She explained sitting next to me.

  “Now Shepard I feel for those colonies as much as the next person, but they made their choice by going out into the Terminus. They wanted to get away from the Alliance and the Council” Anderson explained “I wish we could do something for them”

  “Well I am. Turns out that some species called the Collectors is taking while colonies for some reason” she explained.

  “But aren’t the collectors just some kind of fringe threat?” I asked taking in most of it before remembering the info Tali gave me

  “You read Veetor’s data didn’t you?” I nodded “Then more than just a fringe threat”

  “Shepard, you know there isn’t much I can do right?” Anderson said Shepard nodded; it was tough enough as it was. We sat a good while and talked, helped to catch Shepard up on the events of the past two years since the attack. How the council and most of the Alliance was sweeping everything that we had worked for under the rug. Shepard groused at the whole thing as Udina walked in just as she gave me a kiss on my mandible.

  “Shepard” he said Anderson had to stifle a giggle “What are you doing here?”

  “Just checking in with Anderson and none of your business what I’m doing with Nihlus” she smirked.

Udina had to shake a thought out of his head as he directed his inquiry back to Anderson. “When you’re done here, I would like to speak to you Councilor” he said turning and walking out of the office.

  “Was the really called for?” I asked

  “Gets him off my back…sorry Anderson” she said looking like a child in trouble.

  “It’s nothing if anything he’ll get over it” he said.

  “Maybe we should get going” I said standing up, Shepard followed with a stretch.

  “The only thing that I can really do is give you back your Spectre status. It was never really rescinded after the attack.” Anderson said pressing some buttons on his Omni-tool “And Nihlus, you are on your own in this if your Councilor finds out”

  “I know what I’m doing Anderson thank you” I said walking out of the office Shepard behind me. “So how long is this shore leave?”

  “Twenty four hours then we have to get back out to building a team.” She explained.

  “Who do you have so far besides Garrus?”

  “The Salarian Doctor, a thief named Kasumi Goto and a merc by the name of Zaeed Massani…and then there are two Cerberus operatives. I think we can trust one but the other I don’t like all that well” she said when we reached the lobby.

  “Quite a team you have there” I said

  “Joker is also there along with Dr. Chakwas, and then there are these two young engineers that are almost as good as Tali, but not quite” she continued “It would be better if you could come with me, though with the council and all I think I can understand”

  “Anderson gave you back your status and as far as the others know this is a mission you’ve taken on personally.” I explained “And I never said I was staying here”

  “But what about your job here?”

  “What about it? Shepard I have been bored for the past two years and I have missed you beyond anything in this galaxy. Let’s go to the apartment and then in the morning we’ll make our way back to the Normandy” I said stroking her cheek with my talons. I felt the new scars that she had collected on her face and found the old one under her eye.

  “You always know what to say. Let’s stop by a couple shops before we go home for the night” she smiled taking my hand and leading me off into the direction of one of the nearby shops.

 

     It was late evening before we had gotten back to our apartment she began to snap off her armor making her way to the bedroom. “Put the booze in the fridge and send the other things to the Normandy” she smirked disappearing into the darkness of our room. I set her models on the table and set the booze in the fridge and followed her into our room, she still wasn’t very stealthy as she tried to tackle me to the bed.

  “After all that money spent, the Illusive Man couldn’t make you any faster” I said throwing her down and pinning her.

  “Damn Turian!” she laughed as I ran my talons down her sides and found the scars of the bit marks I left on her. I explored her body her scents, her movements, and her noises. It was like coming home after a long mission. We missed each other so much we wasted no time in getting back into our rhythm.

    We had spent most of the night in the throes of love making, hearing her call out my name when we were done was like music to my ears. I had chomped down at the crook of her neck adding to the bite marks I had already left her. Human blood had a tin taste almost like copper; this way it would be somewhat visible. “We have to be back at the Normandy in the morning and look at us” I said letting her snuggle in at my side.

  “Yeah well I’d rather be late anyway. I have a bigger cabin instead of my cramped little thing in the SR-1” she said. She was relaxed and sleep lined her voice as we laid there watching the ceiling.

  “That should be nice. I’m sure the crew will wonder what’s going on with there being two Turians on board” I said running my talons through her hair, it was a little longer than the normal but it was just as soft.

  “Garrus spends most of his time in the main battery, not sure where I could put you aside from in my cabin” she smirked.

  “I think I will sit with Joker on the bridge during duty hours” I said

  “Fine, then. Just know that this new Normandy is equipped with and Artificial Intelligence named EDI” she explained.

  “I bet Joker wasn’t too happy”

  “No, but he’s dealing the best way he knows how of course.” She said. “Good night Nihlus” she kissed my mandible and let sleep take over as her breathing slowed and she drifted off.

  “Good night Amalia” I nuzzled her forehead and let my sub vocals out into a soft purr to make sure she stayed relaxed during her sleep.

 

/      /      /

 

    Once on the Normandy most of the crew she had already gotten together gathered in the new debriefing room. Ms. Goto and Massani were both surprises, the Illusive man must be paying them top dollar for this. Garrus, Joker, and Dr. Chakwas were the only familiar faces and put me at ease knowing they were here. “It’s good to have you along Nihlus” Chakwas beamed as I walked into the room “Now I expect you in the med bay for a check-up. You and Garrus may be Turian but you both are very different”

  “You have my word doctor.”

  “The Commander had nothing but high praise for you Spectre, you’ve got my respect” the dark skinned human saluted. From Shepard’s description he must be Operative Jacob Taylor, a little more trust worthy than the female.

  “Thank you, Mr. Taylor I will do my best to live up to her expectations.” I said acknowledging him.

  “Good to have ya on board buddy; the co-pilot seat is pretty much empty if you wanna hole up there” Joker said giving a me quick pat on the back before hobbling as fast as he possibly could out of the room. I looked at Shepard; she just gave me a shrug.

  “That one over there is Miranda Lawson. She is another human biotic, but apparently she is ‘perfect’” Shepard said introducing the female Cerberus agent, who thought she was going to continue being second in command.

  “It’s nice to meet you Spectre, as Jacob had said earlier the Commander had nothing but high praise for you. I’m also second in Command on this vessel” Lawson said out stretching her hand. I didn’t like the smell of her, I looked at Shepard. All she could do was give me the gesture to be nice for the time being.

  “Nice to meet you as well Operative Lawson.” I said shaking her hand in attempt to keep the peace.

  “And you’ve met Mordin”

  “Very nice to meet you indeed. Also very interested to see how this Turian works differently from Garrus; according to Dr. Chakwas. Yes, very interesting.” The Salarian sounded like he had found out what coffee was on a human vessel.

  “I have just one question Mr. Kyrik, how is our mutual friend” Ms. Goto asked with a smile.

  “He’s good. Still running around in a circle thanks to you” I said, she was talking about Jondam Bau. The poor man has been after this master thief for a while now.

  “Good to hear he’s doing well then.” She said walking out of the room. Massani took a look at me then to Shepard, gave a snort and followed Ms. Goto out of the room.

  “Everyone else dismissed” Shepard said shaking her head at Massani.

  “Commander, where would you have Mr. Kyrik ‘bunk’ during off duty hours” a blue holographic ball asked popping up from a console on the table.

  “Nihlus will be staying with me in the Captain’s cabin EDI. If Lawson has any complaints then she can keep them to herself” Shepard said. So this was the AI that was part of the Normandy now. It was going to be fun listening to Joker go on about this.

  “Yes, Commander, pleased to meet you Spectre Kyrik. Mr. Moreau will be pleased to have a friend on the bridge with him. I look forward to seeing you there” it said and disappeared again.

  “And that is EDI” Shepard smiled “I’d trust her before I’d trust Lawson, but that’s a different story.”

  “I don’t trust any of it, but if the collectors really are in league with the reapers then they need to be dealt with.” I said crossing my arms. “Now what about you?”

  “What? I’m fine, you saw last night” she said

  “You still have nightmares”

  “Shut up”

    “Amalia”

  “Yes, I still have nightmares. Last night was the first time I was able to sleep through the night since…well I ‘woke up’” she said leaning on the table.

  “At least I’m here with you now” I said nuzzling the side of her head “I’m not leaving you alone again”

  “I do have to use the lavatory, you know”

  “Then only on some occasions when I absolutely have to” I said “Now I have a few complaints”

  “Don’t worry, you’re my second in command now, Miranda just has to keep the title for the Illusive man” she explained

  “Good. I’ll be on the bridge with Joker if you need me” I said and left the room and Shepard to her thoughts. I examined the armory and the CIC on my way to the bridge, there was a red haired young lady at the Yeoman’s position. She smiled politely as I kept moving, most everything was the same only there was more room to walk, and cockpit also seemed to be a bit bigger once I got up there.

  “About time you got here, I was starting to wonder if the Commander wanted a little private time” he said his seat turning to face me.

  “The briefing room is far from private Mr. Moreau”

  “And there’s that”

  “EDI…can’t be that bad, can it Joker?” I asked taking the co-pilot’s seat

  “Shepard asked the same thing, so I don’t know; I still liked it better when the Normandy was quiet” he said turning to his screens.

  “Joker let’s go. Head back to the Omega Nebula, still got a few things for Aria to do then Zorya for Zaeed” Shepard’s voice came over the comm speaker.

  “Aye, aye commander” Joker said.

  “Aria T’Lok? This should be good” I commented as we left the Citadel and traveled through to the relay.

  “We need the creds; the Commander put us a thousand credits in the hole helping a young Quarian. Don’t blame her though I wouldn’t want to be stuck there either” Joker explained as the blue lights of the relay engulfed the relay and we were on our way to the Omega Nebula. I pulled up the dossiers that Shepard had yet to find, a Krogan and a biotic to rival Operative Lawson’s power were still left on the list. Warlord Okeer, and ‘Jack’, at things won’t be boring that was for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you all enjoyed, thank you all for reading this fic
> 
> inventory is coming up at work so it'll be another while before chapter 3 is up. still i hope you all enjoyed thank you for taking the time to read this :D / / / ETA 10/1/14: just wanted to let you all know that i haven't forgotten about this. and it will definitely after the 21st that i post the next chapter maybe a little later as there have aslo been some.....real life issues that have needed my attention as of late. half way through though. thank you for your time *bows*


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard starts with a party at Donovan Hock's then moves to a rumble on Zorya then she begins with gathering The Krogan  
> Told from Nihlus's POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here it is the next chapter. told from Nihlus's POV. i stopped it just after starting the search for Okeer so that is where it will pick up in the next chapter before going off to get Jack. Please Enjoy! :D 
> 
> and as always i don't own anything i just write the fan fiction and all names places and things are mainly coincidence and used to help progress the story. Enjoy! :D

  Our trip back to Omega from the Citadel was less than savory, and I could have done without coming face to face with Aria. I sat in Shepard’s cabin as Kasumi helped her try on a selection of dresses she had brought aboard. Thankfully dealing with Patriarch and Blood Pack wasn’t too exciting; old Krogans, boring war stories and enemies of Aria. Still not something I thought we would be doing. “Just your luck, Nihlus, you had to get the pickiest human in the universe.” Kasumi commented flopping on the cough next to me.

  “Don’t remind me” I said pinching the bridge of my nose.

  “Why are they so short or cut out?” Shepard asked from in the bathroom.

  “That’s what they call fashion now a days Shep” Kasumi answered.

  “Just pick one already, please” I groaned, I was still trying to fight off the head ache from the bright lights and music from Purgatory.

  “Yeah, Shep, the party starts in six hours and we’ll be there in less than five” Kasumi said getting up and walking to the bathroom knocking on its door.

  “They’re all too slutty for me! Why, Kasumi!?” Shepard called through the door.

  “Aw come on! Try the little black number! Let’s see it.” Kasumi leaned against the door way. I shook my head slightly amused as I heard a muffled ‘fine’ followed by the door sliding open. I looked up to see Shepard in a black dress that seemed to hug her curves perfectly stopping just short of her knees, a square neckline accented with silver jewelry.

  “…wow…” was all I was able to muster at the sight. It had been too long since I had seen Shepard in any kind of formal dress, especially one that accentuated her so well.

  “Looking good there Shep” Kasumi said a smile the only part of her face visible from her thief’s hood.

  “I might keep this one then” Shepard said obviously noticing my shock.

  “If you two need a moment I’ll be in the hold getting things ready” Kasumi said slipping out of the cabin.

  “So?” Shepard asked with a sheepish smile. I stood and walked over to her touching our foreheads.

  “The galaxy can go to hell for I care right now, I missed you so much” I told her holding her hands, then taking her in my arms. 

  “I missed you too, Nihlus, and thank you for coming along” she said, I could hear the regret and apologetic tone in her voice “I know you’re taking a big risk and that the council could label you rogue for this and….”

  I kissed her stopping her from saying anymore. “First off if was up to me I would have turned this entire galaxy on its head. Second, the council can kiss my scaly ass for all I give a flying fuck. I’m doing this because we started this mess together and I’ll be damned if I don’t help you finish this with the Reapers.” I told her “Now stop it. This is my choice and no one can make me change my mind”

  She smiled and nodded. I wiped away a few tears before they could ruin her make up. We still had time before we reached our destination, so I led her to the couch and we sat in each other’s company until Joker came over the com letting us know we were nearing the planet. “Are you sure we can do this just with the two of us? What if something happens and we get in a bind?” Shepard asked as Kasumi loaded the statue of Saren into the shuttle.

  “We’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Our resident thief assured Shepard. “Besides, if we brought Nihlus or Garrus with us someone blow our cover. Best to just to go you and me Shep.”

  “She’s right. Mr. Hock has more than likely seen my face, but there is a chance that he’s not seen yours too well.” I explained watching the face of my former mentor and friend disappear behind the cargo door to the shuttle. Shepard made one of her noises in protest slipping on the heels that matched the dress.

  “If we’re not back by day break planet side then you Garrus and Mordin or Zadeed come get us” Shepard ordered as she entered the shuttle after Kasumi.

  “You know I will” I said giving her a light nuzzle “Now go”

  The doors closed behind her and the shuttle took off from the hold. I myself made my way back up to the bridge and as always Joker was ever vigilant for Shepard. “I got a bad feeling about this Nihlus” he said as I sat in the co-pilot’s seat.

  “You and me both, but it has to be done” I explained as we watched from a tiny camera from Shepard’s necklace. We listened in on the conversation between the girls as Kasumi explained her cover and what was to be done once they were inside. Kasumi apparently did prepare for the worst and made sure to sneak their weapons and armor into the statue of Saren.

  “At least we won’t have to worry about her trying to steal the Normandy” Joker said trying his best to lighten the mood. I halfway drowned him out watching what was going on as they landed Mr. Hock’s party. Ms. Allison Gunn, the cover was almost perfect, papers, articles and everything. More than likely at Cerberus expense which I had no problem with as long as it wasn’t mine or Shepard’s pockets. I oddly enough trusted Kasumi more than the human that occupied the XO cabin, but I would be civil for the time being.

  “They should have been cleared by now” I said lowly watching the feed from Shepard’s necklace.

  “Maybe Ms. Goto isn’t as good as we were led to believe” Joker commented watching the same feed from his screens at the helm.

  “Give it a minute…and they are in” I said as Mr. Hock let them pass as long as Ms. Gunn’s friend stayed outside. I had faith in them to get it done without much of a hitch, though there still wasn’t any guarantee that Mr. Hock hadn’t had recognized one of them.

  “I’ve got to give them credit. Shepard usually isn’t one for this kind of mission, it’s going kind of smoothly” Joker said flipping through stills of the party, vault and other parts of the party taken from the camera on Shepard’s necklace. Smooth was an understatement, I was getting bored just watching, I was surprised Shepard didn’t decide to start some kind of riot by now; though she did seem to be hitting the booze a little harder than she should have been.

  Though it was like Joker had said all was going well, even when they had access to the vault. Kasumi erased the presence of her and Shepard by putting the security video on a loop before they went in. The video feed from Shepard’s necklace switched to her helmet as they entered the vault to a good selection of statues. A few of them belonged to the Turians by the look of them; others were from other parts of the galaxy. There was a giant horned creature “Wouldn’t want to meet that in a dark alley” Kasumi mentioned as they stopped to look at it for a moment.

  “I think that’s an ogre….Joker take a picture so I can look for it later” Shepard said as her command came through the screen.

  “You got it Commander” Joker said snapping a picture of the creature. It surely was an interesting piece of art, though who would want one of those things in their home as art?

  “I’m also going to mark those Turian pieces for recovery by the Hierarchy, try not to destroy the place too much” I said through the com in her helmet.

  “Might want to mark these other pieces for the Alliance also just in case” she said as they moved to a small case with what looked like a sub-machine gun and the grey box Kasumi was after.

  “Would you look at that, a LOCUST….? No! It’s **the** LOCUST! And it comes with a perfect copy.” Kasumi said as Shepard picked up the gun.

  “We’ll take it” Shepard said prepping it to be retrieved for the armory. Kasumi pocketed the gray box that belonged to her partner.

  “And here comes the shit storm” Joker mentioned as Hock appeared. I was surprised; it took him a good long while to figure things out. He really wasn’t that smart, it was a wonder he was as powerful as he was.

  “Shepard, Goto you have Eclipse incoming” I said as Joker and I watched the fire fight explode in the open antiquities hall. 

  “Got to love Turians; always captains of the obvious” Kasumi said

  “Less talk more shooting Kasumi”

  “And this is what I do when you guys go off and have all this amazing fun with guns and shit” Joker said as we sat back and watched their progress through Hock’s estate.

  “I don’t see how can you just sit up here and watch. There’s too many of those mercs” I said watching.

  “There wouldn’t be much that I could do to help besides make sure we get a quick getaway and not to give the Alliance our tail lights when they come by. And I’m sure they’re fine, look, Shepard even blew up a truck; good times” he said watching the mayhem.

  It was not long before they came to the landing pad on the roof of the building where Donavan Hock was waiting for them in a gunner plane. “One of us should help them”

  “Nah, she’ got this. You should have seen her on Omega when the Blue Suns leader there hit Garrus. Miranda and Jacob could barely be counted as there. Shepard took care of that plane no trouble.” Joker said as a missile came dangerously close to hitting Shepard.

  “She’s got this, huh?” I asked looking at him

  “Give her a minute she hasn’t hit her stride yet with Kasumi”

  “She has five minutes then I help finish Hock”

  “You might not need to, see I told you” Joker pointed out as Shepard took out the shields giving Kasumi an opening to sabotage the shield generator.

  “Go for it Shep!” Kasumi called as Shepard took out her grenade launcher. It only had three rounds at the moment but it did reasonable damage.  

  “Have a little more faith Nihlus. She isn’t the hero of the Blitz for nothing” Joker said sending a command down to the hold for the shuttle to get ready to be on its way to pick them up. I sat back in the co-pilot’s seat and watched, last time I had a little faith we lost a ship and almost lost Shepard. Maybe Joker was right though; Shepard is capable, more than in fact. She was still Shepard no doubt about that, I just had to stop stepping on nails. “She’ll be fine, man. If you can’t trust anyone else on that then trust me ok? I’ll always tell you straight up”

  “Thanks Joker I’ll keep that in mind.” I said standing with a stretch and headed toward the elevator.

  “The commander has sent you a message to your private terminal Spectre Kyrik” Yeoman Chambers said as I passed her. I nodded to acknowledge her and wished the door to the elevator closed quicker.

 

   It was later that Shepard finally came up to the cabin. She looked worse for wear when she flopped face first on the bed. “Everything go all right with the gray box?” I asked looking up from my Omni-tool.

“We got rid of the data. Something about implicating the Alliance. We’re on our way to Zorya now to help Zaeed. I need a nap” she said muffled through the sheets.

  “From the way you hit the booze I’d feel better if you did take a nap before heading into that, what is it human’s say, wasp’s nest?” I said sitting on the edge of the bed putting a talon on her back.

  “Already half way to sleep”

  “Want to take your armor off first?”

  “Nope, save time getting ready when we get to Zorya”

  “Not even a shower?”

  “I’ll shower when I die”

  “You’re something else” I said laying down making her move and nuzzling her neck.

  “I know, and you love it” she smiled. That smile made me feel at ease about everything.

  “Why are you always right” I asked as we lay there in silence and dozed off for a few hours.

 

     //   //   //

 

  “Don’t you think that would have been a good thing to know Zaeed?! Blue Suns founder!?” Shepard yelled after we took out a small group of Blue Sun mercenaries “Yes? No? MAYBE?!”

  “Oh keep your voice down, it wasn’t important at the time” Zaeed yelled back. I knew there was going to be trouble, this was just beyond trouble. “What we need to do besides sitting here arguing, we need to get going and get Vido before he gets away.”

  “RAH!! FINE!” Shepard raged drawing her weapon and moving ahead.

  “Picked a real winner you did with that one” Zaeed said with a laugh

  “Just move Massani, I have no patience for anything right now” I said moving passed him to catch up with Shepard.

  As we moved through the plant we came to a door and a surviving plant worker begging for help. Explosions and Zaeed’s grudge did not help in trying to make a decision. “He’s injured how far can he get?” Shepard asked wanting to help the people.

  “You don’t know Vido like I do Shepard. I get him or you don’t get my help at all” Zaeed said. Did we really need his help or was he in it for the credits from the Illusive Man?

  “Fine”

  “Glad you see it my way” Zaeed said moving past Shepard into the next area. Shepard shut her eyes tight and turned away from the man’s pleas following Zaeed.

  “C’mon Nihlus” she said over our private channel.

  “Right behind you. Garrus?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You Taylor and the Doctor get down here and see what you can do for the survivors as fast as you can” I said walking through the door to join Shepard and Zaeed.

  “On our way” Garrus said and clipped out.

  “‘Bout damn time you caught up” Zaeed had the nerve to say when the door closed. They were in the middle of a fire fight, I took cover by Shepard.

  “Do we really need his help?” I asked

  “We need someone that can play dirty against the Collectors” she replied taking out a Blue Sun. I nodded tossing out a grenade into the fray.

I knew the Blue Suns were relentless, but this was insane. “I’m out” Zaeed called as we reached the next area.

  “I am too” I said Vido was really pulling out all the stops to get away from Zaeed.

  “Here!” Shepard tossed us each one of her weapons before bolting to a supply crate. “Shepard?!”

  “Give me a minute!”

  “Shoot the tanks down Nihlus. If we can get those down these blokes won’t stand a bleedin’ chance” Zaeed pointed upwards to a tank on a conveyor that was now doubling as a giant flame thrower.

  “We’re running out of ammo thanks to your little stunt, and you want us to shoot those down and waste more?” I called over the noise

  “Found ammo! Get firing!” Shepard called tossing ammo clips at us. Zaeed and I shrugged and fired away as Shepard went back to scavenging as we took out more Blue Suns with the tanks.

  “Mech in-coming!”

  “Just keep it up until that thing is done!” Shepard called as she pressed a few buttons on her Omni-Tool setting the ammo mod for her weapons we were using. “Move!” Shepard pulled out her heavy arc-pistol charging it up when the mech was at its last legs. The mech fell in a small explosion; we stayed in cover until all was quiet.

  “They gave you a gun?” Zaeed said standing looking at Shepard amazed.

  “I’m not the hero of the Blitz and the Citadel for nothing” She said taking back her weapons and making sure we had plenty of ammo from the corpses of the fallen Blue Suns.

  “She’s damn nuts that’s what she is” he said

  “Not the hero of the Blitz and the Citadel for nothing” I shrugged and followed ahead to where Shepard was waiting for us at the door. I saw Zaeed shrug and shake his head joining us.

  “Let’s bag us a damned rat then” he said when we exited to an injured Vido trying to get to his escape shuttle.

  Shepard and I hung back and watched Zaeed work; exact his revenge more like it. I didn’t understand why we needed him when we were going to have a Krogan on the team regardless. As long as he saved whatever dirty tricks he has for the Collectors I supposed he could still be useful. We watched as he let one of the heated clips from his weapon drop into the puddle of fuel that Vido had crawled into. It caught fire with the poor bastard in its rage. “Feel better?” Shepard asked as Zaeed walked up to us.

  “Yeah, now let’s go find us some Collectors shall we?” he said making his way to the pickup shuttle.

  “Garrus to Nihlus” Garrus came over the radio as we took off, I could see the other shuttle lift off just ahead of us.

  “What is it Garrus?”

  “We got as many survivors as we could, otherwise…well there wasn’t much we could really do” he explained.

  “Every little bit helps Garrus. Nihlus out” I said watching Shepard seethe from under her helmet. Zaeed sat seemingly in a better mood than when he had joined I guess.

  “What did Garrus want?” Shepard asked over our private channel

  “I’ll tell you when we get back to the Normandy” I said.

 

   Back on the Normandy Shepard didn’t waste any time heading to her cabin. I stayed behind to debrief with Garrus and the others and what survivors they recovered when they were finally settled. “Gonna set them off at the nearest port once Chakwas gets a look at them” Jacob said helping one out.

  “Was there anything else that could have been salvaged?” I asked when the Doctor and Garrus filed out.

  “Nothing of note. Maybe a few scraps of metal, a few credits, nothing worth keeping” Mordin said making his way to the elevator to get back to his lab.

  “Mordin is right; there wasn’t anything I saw that we could really use as we were trying to get the people onto the shuttle. How’s Shepard?” Garrus said as we made our way to the elevator ourselves.

  “At least you guys got the credits. She is not happy to say the least. She’ll feel better once she hears you were able to save some of the people.” I said pinching the plates on my nose.

  “What happened down there?”

  “As Joker would say, a right shit storm” I said punching the code for the Captain’s cabin.

 

  “Amalia?” said entering the cabin, the room was dark save for the light of the aquarium. Shepard was lying on the bed staring at her hand and the ceiling. I punched the button to feed the fish before joining her in the darkness on the bed. “Garrus managed to save some of the factory workers back on Zorya.”

  “That’s good…” she said still staring at her hand. 

  “What are we looking at exactly besides your odd human hand?” I asked running an arm around and under her neck and the other around her waist.

  “I just don’t understand”

  “Understand what?”

  “Why me? Why did it have to be me? Why did they bring me back, why for everything, Nihlus? I don’t get it” she asked bringing her hand down and resting it on my arm.

  “Do you want my honest opinion?” I asked resting my chin on her shoulder

  “Please? You, Garrus, Chakwas, and Joker are the only ones that are being even remotely honest” she said.

  “I don’t know, to be completely honest.” I said as she let out an upset huff through her nose. “But I will tell you what I do know though”

  “What would that be?”

  “That Joker, Garrus, Chakwas and I are with you until the end and that if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have a fighting chance in hell against the Reapers. I agree, to get to where we need to be we need the resources that the Illusive man can provide through Cerberus.” I explained “And that I’ve loved you since the day we met face to face”

  “Even though you thought I was a guy?”

 “Even though I was expecting something a little different than what I actually got, yes.” I told her.

  “You’re weird” she chuckled relaxing some.

  “Call the kettle black why don’t you” I said nuzzling her neck.

  “My apologies commander but we now have enough resources to upgrade the med-bay, would you like me to schedule it for when we dock next?” EDI popped up. Joker had been keeping up on the scanning for minerals and elements for any upgrades possible, but EDI’s timing needed to be worked on.

  “Yeah, EDI go ahead, I trust you and Joker” Shepard said raising her hand to the side of my head.

  “Yes Commander” EDI said before popping out of the cabin.

  “Do we really need that?” I asked

  “I trust the AI more than I trust Lawson. We keep EDI” Shepard said settling into sleep.

  “Fine, I suppose we can keep EDI” I whispered feeling her breathing slow and her fall asleep. “Good night my Shepard”

 

    //      //      //

 

  “Says Okeer is a Krogan Warlord, they’re feared, respected, and well general Krogan trivia that is really useless to us” I said swiping through my screens at the copilot’s seat.

  “Then what is he doing on a planet used by the Blue Suns?” Shepard asked

  “Not sure, The Illusive man didn’t include much on the old Krogan.”

  “We could always go get Wrex. I miss him” Joker said

  “Wish I could, but apparently The Illusive man thinks we need Okeer” Shepard said. “Nihlus you and Kasumi suit up and let’s get down there and get Okeer”

  “Ready and waiting Shep!” Kasumi called over the com from the cargo hold.

  “Be there in a minute” I said as Shepard left the bridge.

  “Still think we should find Wrex” Joker said

  “I think we should too, but let’s give this one a chance” I said getting up and heading to the elevator.

  “Yeah, whatever have fun!”

  Fun was going to be an operative term as we got into the shuttle and headed to the planet’s surface. There was fighting on all sides, luckily no one had noticed us as of yet as we slipped out of the shuttle and headed in, ready for anything. Kasumi commented on the woman on the loud speaker as we moved in closer. “They’ve seen us” Kasumi commented as a squad of Blue Suns hurried ahead to cover and fired at us.

  “Stay low and keep them on their toes. Take only ammo and credits when things die down!” Shepard called from her cover.

  “It’s nice to know we’re on the same page” Kasumi said with a smile.

  “That’s what they get for playing on the wrong side” I said taking out one of the mercs.

  It did not take long to dispatch the small squad of mercs as we moved up to find a merc that hat had been shot. He sounded like a whiner as he complained about his injury. “It actually doesn't look bad” I said looking at it from where we stood.

  “The poor baby merc got an Ouchy” Kasumi laughed

  “Let’s have a little fun with this then” Shepard said walking over to the merc letting him know she had a small application of medi-gel ready to go if he told us what we wanted to know. He said that they were flushing the labs and that Jedore told them to shoot anything that moved. There was also something about the old Krogan turning against Jedore.

  “We were just ordered to shoot what was flushed from the tanks the old Krogan’s gone nuts” the mercenary said.

  “Sounds serious” Kasumi commented. As one of the other patrols came over the radio asking what all the commotion was about.

  “Make your friends go away and maybe I’ll let you gimp out of here alive” Shepard said.

  “All right! Just don’t shoot me again” he said as he told the patrol to head the other way.

  “Good, now if you leave now, you might make someplace shady before you bleed out” Shepard told the merc as he limped off.

  “Having a little too much fun there?” I asked when Shepard rejoined Kasumi and me.

  “You can never have too much fun” she smiled.

  “Sounded like there is some serious business going on around here” Kasumi said.

  “Yeah, we need to hurry and get to Okeer before Jedore’s mercs get to him” Shepard said

  “Not that a Krogan can’t handle himself.” I commented readying my weapon for the next area.

  “True but we still need to try and hurry it along” Shepard replied and we were on our way into the facility. Something was giving me a bad feeling about all of this. I hoped it was nothing as we progressed, though still, something always came from nothing nowadays.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another down and a few more to go, lol. anyway starting on the next chapter tomorrow, or at the very least friday. hope you all enjoyed, i hope there wasn't too many errors i was editing and my friend was reading over my shoulder as i went.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard and the crew obtain the Krogan and then head off to get Jack, and small christmas feels. Told from Nihlus POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't own anything. had to get that out of the way x) anyway next chapter, Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays. i managed to finish despite all the havoc at work and in real life i got the next chapter here :D starting on the next chapter soon, so there should be an update after the new year, so and early Happy New year to all as well. please enjoy

 “This is fucking nuts!” Shepard called out when we finally had a breather. On our way through the facility we had run into a Krogan that was only seven days out of its tank and yet it was fully grown. It explained about the voice, more than likely Okeer, telling it something about not being perfect.

 “Hopefully it’ll be smooth sailing from now on” Kasumi said flopping down next to Shepard after looting a Krogan’s corpse.

 “This Krogan better be worth it, or I find Wrex and drag his sorry Krogan ass with us” I said tossing them a few extra clips.

 “How about we say we went for Okeer but go for this Wrex instead?” Kasumi asked with a smile.

 “Where is Wrex anyway, Nihlus?” Shepard asked

 “Somewhere on Tuchunka last I heard. Otherwise don’t know he’s actually been pretty quiet for the past two years” I replied making sure we all got a dose of medi-gel and were ready to go.

  “And look at us nowhere near the Krogan DMZ” Shepard said standing. Kasumi followed dusting herself off and we were underway again through the facility. Blue Suns, Krogan, and Jedore blasting whatever she was saying over the loud speakers, a regular party Wrex would have enjoyed a bit too much now that I think about it.

  “Don’t shoot!” an Asari exclaimed as we entered a room close to the lab Okeer was in.

 “Give a reason” I said ready to fire.

  “Shepard, you remember me, you both do. Rana Thanoptis, you let me go back on Virmire.” The Asari explained when I lowered my weapon as Shepard touched my shoulder.

 “I thought I told you to stay out of trouble” Shepard replied stepping forward.

 “I was, I’m working for Okeer here, and his work is better than Saren’s”

 “You do know Saren would have indoctrinated you also right?”

 “I know, and I am grateful you gave me a chance to get away”

  “Kind of need to wrap this up Shep” Kasumi said noting the noise outside.

 “What can you tell us about what Okeer is doing?” Shepard asked.

   “He’s actually trying to cure the Genophage. It’s a little brutal, but he is making progress” Rana explained. She explained the work and some of what was going on, basically getting herself into more trouble than she was in on Virmire. Shepard again let her go, making the point of Rana not to be seen ever again. Rana all too readily agreed remembering the bomb that had gone off on Virmire.

  “Let’s hope she doesn’t take advantage of your kindness again Shepard” I said when the door opened and we continued our way up to Okeer.

 “Let’s hope” Shepard said taking a last sad look at the dead Krogan, they may have been clones, and copies, not real Krogan but to her they were still living.

  “We stop the Reapers and we’ll find a way to make stuff like this stop. Just have to do one thing at a time Amalia” I said over our private channel.

  “Yeah” she sighed as we came up to the last stretch of Blue Suns. After it was quiet once we neared Okeer’s lab. We took a little time to scavenge what we could from the computers and hacking into some systems for extra credits. That was one thing that still irked me; The Illusive Man was putting all this money into these people and other items but couldn’t be bothered to give Shepard a contingency fund.

  “It’s about time” the old Krogan said turning to us as we entered. Shepard turned away from a dead Krogan o the test table to face Okeer.

  “I think we’re both going to be sick” Kasumi making a gagging face.

  “The dossier suggested experimentation, but this Okeer?” I asked as he and Shepard stared each other down.

 “All in the name of perfection so to speak, Spectre.” The old Krogan said explaining his work to make the perfect Krogan. Free from the Genophage, the salvation of the Krogan race.

   While he and Shepard talked I looked at the Krogan inside the tank, it seemed different from the others that we had come across to get here. I heard Kasumi cheer to herself as she hacked a nearby computer before rejoining Shepard and Okeer. “So will you join us or not?” Shepard asked as Jedore came over the loud speaker.

  “Get rid of Jedore and _we_ will be ready to leave when you are done.” Okeer said turning back to his terminal. Shepard sighed and drew her weapon.

  “Let’s go guys, sooner we can get this done the sooner we can be gone” she said as we left the Krogan to his preparations.

  “It’s not too late to find Wrex” I suggested as we made our way down to the main tanks from the lab.

 “It was too late the moment we stepped onto this planet” Shepard said drawing her weapon at the door to the tanks. “Though I do miss Wrex.” Without delay we took for cover as Jedore began to open fire on us.

   As expected, she was a Blue Sun’s heavy and was equipped with a mean rocket launcher and a mech. For once I just wished things could be easy, and then I remember who I’m with. Shepard focused her attacks on Jedore while Kasumi and I tried to keep the Krogan the busted from the birthing tanks and the mech off of her. One of the Krogan managed to get in close to Shepard and knock her back just as a rocket whizzed past her head much to close for comfort. “Shepard’s down!” Kasumi called over the fire fight, busy with her own Krogan and the mech. I myself had the bigger of the Krogan to deal with.

  “Busy!” was all I could get out as I set my shot gun to the Krogan’s head and fired making it back off. Moments after I dispatched the Krogan I could hear a slick noise and the Krogan that took down Shepard grunt and fall to the ground. Shepard standing covered in its blood. She pressed a few buttons on her Omni-Tool modding our rounds.

  “Light these bitches up. Then take care of that Mech, I’ll take out Jedore” she said tossing us a few spare clips from a nearby box as the firing from Jedore and the mech came faster.

  “Works for me” Kasumi said “Smile” she emptied her sub machine gun’s last few clips into the Krogan before moving onto the mech.

   I stood for a dumbstruck moment staring at Shepard and how she sliced through the Krogan. It took a missile from the mech to get my attention and help Kasumi take it out. “I really don’t like these Mercs.” I said taking cover behind one of the tanks as Shepard drew her grenade launcher.

  “That makes two of us then” she said and fired successive rounds at Jedore taking out her shields. Kasumi and I jumped in to help bring her down. After the dust cleared we barely had a moment to catch our breath before EDI came over our radios.

  “Shepard, I am getting readings that Okeer’s lab is filling with air born toxins” the AI said as we began to high tail it back to the lab.

   The lab’s computer chimed in to let us know the emergency vents were venting the room but when the door opened we were too late. Okeer was dead.  The computer where Okeer was working has his last recording before the gas killed him, saying he didn’t know why the Collectors were taking the human colonies and that he was wanting us to ensure that his legacy, the perfect Krogan soldier made it off the planet. “Lot of good this did us” I commented setting a talon on Shepard’s shoulder while we watched Okeer’s final words.

   Shepard looked over at the tank with the “pure” Krogan inside it. “At least we won’t be leaving empty handed” Kasumi smiled joining us.

  “Yeah. Joker.”

  “Commander?”

  “We’re ready for pick up with a passenger, and he’s a big one” she said placing a hand over my talon on her shoulder and walking off towards the door.

 

     When we were back on the Normandy, I stood in the briefing room and listened to Lawson and Taylor argue about our guest sitting in the cargo hold. Shepard came in a few moments later washed up and changed out of her armor. “I see we’re all excited about the new paper weight; thoughts?” she asked them as I watched.  Both operatives gave their opinions on the Krogan, but Shepard simply reminded them that this was her ship and that she was in charge. Their reactions made me chuckle to myself as they left the room.

  “I think we wake the ‘little’ guy up” I said walking over to her.

 “I plan to. Maybe if I’m lucky we can get him to sit on Miranda” she said with a smile before heading to the elevator. “Meet me in the cabin, I shouldn’t be too long”

  “You’re going alone?” I asked

 “Best to let him know whose boss while their young right?” she slipped into the elevator and disappeared. This was one of those times I worried about her, but I had faith and waited for the bridge.

  “Hello Spectre” Yeoman Chambers said in her usual chipper tone

 “Chambers” I said, and within a few more quick strides sat in the co-pilot’s seat next to Joker.

  “Heh, at least you can power walk. All I can do is power hobble” Joker commented when I sat.

  “Did we even have a Yeoman on the first Normandy?”

 “Nope”

  “Then why?”

   “Another spy I guess for the Illusive Man” he said flipping through his screens pulling up the camera in the cargo hold. Zaeed nestled in near the trash compressor, and then there was the starboard cargo hold. Shepard had opened the tank and was talking with the Krogan. He had her against some of the crates his arm across her trachea. He looked down and saw the pistol Shepard had pointed at him and laughed letting her go.

  “Offer one hand, but arm the other, I think I’m going to like it here” he said shaking her hand.

  “Glad to have you Grunt” she said.

 “And I think it’s time for Turian snuggles” he said thinking he was funny. If he wasn't cripple already I would have punched him and possibly broke his arm.

  “You’re lucky you’re cripple” I said taking my leave of our helmsman.

  “I’m one lucky cripple!” he said with a smile.

 

   The cabin was dark when I arrived aside from Shepard at her terminal. “Amalia?”

 “Hmm?”

  “Is everything all right?” I asked resting my talons on her shoulders looking at a strange decorated message from the Captain and her husband.

 “Everything is fine” she said. I could hear a slight pain in her voice, it worried me.

  “No, it’s not.”

 “I still can’t believe I was out for two years, Nihlus” she said hanging her head. “Mom and dad still recorded Christmas messages for me even when they thought I was dead.”

   I felt bad for not knowing the holiday better than I should have after receiving similar messages from the Captain and her husband on the human holiday. I felt worse for Shepard though for finding the messages that were recorded for her. “They…loved you. Left copies at your memorial at Elysium.” I said knowing it wouldn't help matters.

 “I know, its ok Nihlus.” She said leaning back in her seat and looking up at me. “It’s all just still so much to take in, being gone for two years.”

  I saw the faint traces of tears on her face. Chakwas managed to heal the scars physically, but the scars were still there mentally and emotionally. I lowered my forehead to hers and let out a low purr. “If you need a few days I’m sure I could slip you and your parents away for the holiday”

  “Hmmm, no, hahahaha! They knew we’d be busy so they sent the usual message early so they wouldn't forget if things got out of our hands.” She said reaching up and rubbing my neck.

 “I should have paid more attention” I said

  “You should have, but I didn't expect you to since it is a human holiday. As long as I can spend a little alone time with you then I’ll be fine” she explained. I could feel something else eating away at her; she’d tell me when she was ready, until then all I can do is be there for her.

  “We have a little time now….” I started just as a video popped in her screen of the actual creature that statue was of in Hock’s estate “By the spirits!” I hissed when she paused it on the face of the creature.

  “Bwahahahahahahaha!!!” she laughed doubling over and pounded her fist on the desk.

  “That isn't funny Amalia” I crossed my arms and waited until she stopped laughing.

  “Yes it is!”

  “You think that’s funny?”

 “Yes? Whoa!!” she half laughed as I picked her up and threw her on the bed. “C’mon, don’t be a spoiled sport!”

  “Spoiled sport? You have a random video of a creature from earth pop up and give me a heart attack. I think I have a right to be a spoiled sport” I crawled on top of her and pinned her to the bed with my weight.

  “But it’s part of my research…not so much the scaring you out of your carapace, that was a hilarious bonus, but it really is an ogre” she said trying to wriggle out from under me.

 “You’re something else” I said nuzzling her neck.

 “Yeah, but I’m fun” she said as I nipped her neck. “Ah! You little shit!”

   “Yeah but I’m fun” I said kissing her.

   “Commander, I do not mean to interrupt” EDI said popping in. I had a feeling Lawson may have been behind this. “We now have enough minerals to make more upgrades to the Normandy. Should I schedule them for the next time we dock?”

  I let out a low hiss at the AI still lying on top of Shepard “Yes EDI, is there anything else?”

 “Yes. Operative Lawson would like to know when we will be under way to acquire Jack.”

  “When I feel like it. Tell Joker to set a course and let Operative Lawson know we should be on our way within the hour” Shepard said still trying to sit up to no avail, I made sure to keep her pinned and secured while the AI was there, and since I was not in a position to get off of my human.

  “Yes, Commander” EDI said disappearing. We could feel the ship begin to move again.

  “Gives us enough time to just us” I said running my talons in her hair.

  “Well aren't we frisky today” she chuckled.

  “We still have two years to catch up on” I purred as a ping came from her inbox on her desk. “I swear if that is another vid on that ‘creature’”

 “It probably is” she smiled “But I don’t have to look at it right now”

  “Good, because you’re not going to anyway” I said taking in her scent, a sweet musk with a touch of pepper and other floral smells. I could feel her breathing slow down as the silence of the room set in; the only thing that made any noise was the fish tank.

 “Nihlus?” she asked massaging the spot behind my fringe.

 “Hmm?”

   “I love you”

  “I love you too” I said pulling her as close as I could as I felt sleep take her. I listened to her heart beat for a time before I finally fell asleep.

 

     /    /    /

 

 “So that’s Purgatory” I said looking at the prison barge from the copilot’s seat.

  “You've never been? I thought you were this big bad Spectre?” Grunt said leaning over Joker’s shoulder.

  “Well when you’re kind of dating the woman who helped save the Citadel you don’t exactly have time to visit out of the way prison barges” Joker smiled as he and Grunt shared a laugh. I shot them both a glare sitting back in my seat.

 “Are you two quite done?” I asked

  “Just beginning actually” Grunt laughed. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, it was Wrex all over again; it’s like he never left even though this Krogan is a tank bred.

  “Grunt you’re with me and Garrus on this one. I want to see what you've got” Shepard said walking up in full armor.

 “Sweet” Grunt growled heading to the airlock.

 “So we’re really buying a convict?” Garrus asked walking up behind Shepard.

  “Not with my money!” Shepard grinned and joined Grunt for a weapons check.

  “Keep an eye on her for me will you Garrus?” I asked turning to my fellow Turian.

 “You can count on me Nihlus. Hopefully this should just be in and out and on to the next” he said popping his neck and rotating his shoulders.

  He soon joined Shepard and Grunt at the door, as Shepard gave Joker the o.k. to open it and let them out. They were met by two guards asking them to relinquish their weapons. That was a fat chance in hell for sure. Then a Warden Kuril intervened, a high ranking Turian within the Blue Suns it appeared; and allowed them keep their fire arms. “Let them keep their weapons, were more than able to deal with a few armed guests” he said motioning them to follow him further into the barge.

  “Stay on guard Shepard, something isn't right here” I told her on our private channel through her helmet.

  “Got ya” she acknowledged. “Stay alert guys” Grunt and Garrus both nodded keeping a tight finger on the trigger to their weapons.

  Kuril motioned for them to follow him further into the barge explaining that they were in the maximum security wing of the prison barge and that the criminals housed here were some of the most vicious from various planets. “…each pod if a self-contained cell that can be ejected, and used as examples.” He said.

  I watched the feed from Shepard’s helmet watching two prisoners almost start a brawl, then a set of giant arms rearranging a few random cells. After a few moments they moved on with Kuril. “Interesting” she said as they stopped again momentarily and she inquired about the facility and this ‘Jack’ we were to be obtaining.

  Kuril explained about the facility, how each of the prisoner’s home planets pays a fee, if the fee is not paid then the prisoner is released to continue their reign of terror at an undisclosed time, date and location. All the information he can provide on Jack is that he is a bundle of hate, and that Jack made him nervous. “So when do we get Jack?” Shepard asked.

  “Just follow this walk way into out processing and I’ll make sure that the funds from Cerberus have cleared.” Kuril said pointing to a door at the end of the walk way.

 “Something isn’t right” I mumbled watching the footage from Shepard’s helmet.

 “You’re telling me” Joker said fidgeting in his seat.

  When Shepard and the group made it to the other end of the room the door opened to a cell that resembled the others around the barge. “You’re too valuable, I can’t let you leave” Kuril came over the intercom.

 “Seriously?” Garrus grumbled.

   “Heh, at least we get to hit something now” Grunt said

  “Screw you Kuril!” Shepard exclaimed as an alarm sounded throughout the barge.

  “Such a shame it had to come to this. Kill them! Don’t let them off this ship alive!” Kuril called.

   Blue Suns began to fill the room with FENRIS Mechs and more than likely expendable lower ranking officers. “Yeah, now we get some action!” Joker exclaimed in his seat. To him this was a form of entertainment since he couldn't leave the ship very often, especially on missions.

  “They should be bringing Jack out of Cryo head down that hall way” I said as Shepard took cover behind a crate. Shepard just let out a grunt as her Garrus and Grunt dealt with the mercenaries and mechs blocking their path.

  Most of the camera on Shepard’s camera was now covered in blood from either a merc of a doctor that resided on the ship when they came to the cryo operations room. After dispatching the scientist they went over to the large window that over looked the process. Shepard wiped some of the blood away so that we on the ship could get a better look at the person they were taking out of the cryo cell. “Whoa, seriously?” Joker asked when ‘Jack’ came into view.

  “That’s Jack?” Grunt asked at the rather small human female that was being unfrozen.

  “Can’t say I’m surprised” I commented sitting back in my seat.

 “Really Nihlus?” Joker asked

 “I thought Shepard was a male before I met her” I admitted

  “Hahahaha!! Really? Well yeah I guess I could see that given all that she’s done. Damn that’s funny” He said laughing. I ignored most of it; I had had enough ribbing from Anderson when this whole mess started on our way to Eden Prime.

   I went back to watching the camera feed from Shepard’s helmet, Jack managed to break out of her restraints and demolish two YMIR mechs before blasting a whole in the side of the room and making a break for it. Operative Lawson was going to have her work cut out for her once we got Jack onto the Normandy as far as powerful biotics go. “All right guys let’s get moving before they get a chance to get Jack.” Shepard ordered

  “I think she can handle herself, but ok” Grunt commented as they moved.

  I looked at the outlay of the ship, tracking Jack through the areas. She was a handful all right. If Shepard didn’t get to her first she would destroy the ship and everyone on it. “I’m going out there” I said starting to get up.

  “Are you sure about that man? I mean c’mon?” Joker asked

 “They might not make it and I’m not risking this mission or Shepard for some insane biotic.” I said.

  “Granted she’s traveling with a Krogan and another Turian, both relative heavy hitters, it won’t take them long to get to Jack or off the ship for that matter. Look they’re making good progress and keeping up with Jack quite well I’d say.” Joker said looking at me then motioning to our screens showing Shepard’s and Jack’s progress through the barge.

  I sat back down stiffly and watched. Red lights and alarms everywhere, Kuril shouting about not to let Jack escape, and Shepard and her little group moving through the mercs and mechs alike. My plates tightened watching the gore that both Jack and Shepard managed to leave in their wake. It was one of those days that I wished for an easy objective; but not this day apparently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you all enjoyed and had a very merry christmas. thank you all for reading i'm very glad that you all like this and just knowing that you all enjoy this makes me happy and is a really great christmas feeling. again thank you all and there should be an update after the new year, see you all in 2015!
> 
> ETA: next chapter is being worked on . No set date as to when it will be up but I am working on it. Had a real life thing happen that paused progress, but I should be done in another week or two. I haven't forgotten you guys thank you for being so patient :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard and the crew get Jack and then its on to Horizon for good old fun times, yeah you know the drill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...i am here. alive, hurt, but alive and for the most part whole. i am so sorry it took me so long to update but there were some real real life issues that have ensued and yeah. but here it is, the update you all have been waiting for. please enjoy! 
> 
> Disclaimer:....i don't own anything i just do the fan fiction for the funs :D

   Kuril was right about one thing on this ship is that there were definitely some of the meanest in the galaxy here.  Whoever wasn’t caught in the carnage that Shepard and Jack wrought on their respective ends made sure to take the opportunity to get the hell out of dodge. Joker somehow managed to find this all amusing, I for one did not. Grunt was slamming and throwing mercs while Garrus took cover trying to keep other mercs off of Shepard as she had to scavenge for ammo clips. “Found a thousand creds” she cheered as a missile whizzed by her head; if that Kuril didn’t manage to kill I surely will when she gets back to the Normandy for being careless.

   “Shepard take cover!” Garrus called over the noise as he dispatched the last few mercs of the area.

  “Thank you Garrus” I thanked him over his visor radio.

  “No problem” he said joining Grunt and Shepard where they sat under cover. All was quiet for the time being as they recuperated. I punched up a screen that monitored Jack’s progress toward the dicking bay where we were.

    “I wouldn’t dally too much longer you guys” I said over all of their radios.

   “He’s right, get what clips you can and lets move out” Shepard said getting up with some help from Garrus and moved through the destruction to the last area before the docking bays.

  “I wonder what the others were thinking when we were going after this ‘Jack’” Joker chuckled as the moved to the final stretch facing Kuril and Jack was getting ready to enter the docking bay.

  “I had heard rumors, I just didn’t think they were true” I said with a sigh then standing. “I’ll be in the briefing room.”

 “Watch out for Miranda, I’m pretty sure she’s there too waiting for this little time bomb” Joker mentioned as I made my way cutting through the lab to get to the office like room of the Normandy. Joker knew the workings of this ship all too well, Lawson was as he had predicted sitting at the table going over files and waiting for Shepard to return.

  We acknowledged one another as I sat with my own files on the other side and towards the head of the table, away from Lawson. I opened my screens and files for the first time in weeks only to be bombarded from the Spectres office at my whereabouts, budgeting, and requisitions, among other things the others could more than easily manage by themselves. I wondered how some even made their way into the Spectres, it was just amazing. I passed the more menial tasks to a few of the Salarians; they were better suited in my opinion, then sent out a quick mass message saying that I had taken on a personal mission and would be out for longer than I had anticipated from the Spectres. “.., and this is the briefing room, since we have to go through Operative Lawson first for our deal” Shepard said sounding more than exhausted leading the scantily clad convict into the room.

   “Not bad Shepard” Jack noted walking in then noticing Lawson and myself.

  “Everyone say hi” Shepard flopped down next to me spying the files from over my cowl.

 “Good to finally meet you Jack, welcome to the Normandy. I am Nihlus Kyrik” I greeted her absently still reading through replies of fellow Spectres and their complaints; too bad for them for the time being.

  “I’ve heard of you Spectre. Wow, Cerberus must be desperate” Jack sneered focusing on Lawson who stood and walked over the Jack.

 “I am Miranda Lawson and I am second in command on the ship” Lawson pushed the point forward. Shepard scoffed quietly pretending it was at one of my messages.

  “Stuff it cheerleader, I’m here for our deal Shepard” Jack said.

 “As promised full access, she is to have clearance for all information that Cerberus has on her.” Shepard put her head down on the cool surface of the table, I set a talon on her back rubbing between her shoulders, it was over her armor but she relaxed if only a little.

  “Hear that precious? Just you me and every dirty little secret” Jack smiled as Lawson shook her head and led Jack out of the room.

  “Go see Chakwas” I said shutting down my screens.

  “Garrus and Grunt are in with her at the moment, I just need to sit for a minute then possibly take a hot shower.” She said lifting her head then leaning on my shoulder.

   I turned to face her and lifter her chin to look at her face. I checked both sides of her face, her neck, and what I could on her head through her hair. I noticed a graze from Kuril’s rifle on her temple. “Sit there while I get the medi-gel.” I said standing and heading to a cabinet on the corner of the room.

   “Is it really that bad?” she asked trying to check her reflection in the metal of the table.

 “Could be worse I suppose. Could also be better” I said sitting again taking my gloves off and rubbing some medi-gel into the wound.

  “You haven’t been filing your talons” she noted

  “I’m wearing my gloves most of the time, and I’ve been lazy like you” I said touching our foreheads. “And you haven’t been cutting your hair”

 “I don’t think the Alliance really cares at this point since I’m technically wanted for some kind of treason” she said leaning back in her chair.

 “We’ll get it straightened out, we always do, and besides Hackett is at least on your side that has to account for something” I said watching her “He seems to have a lot of pull in the Alliance”

   “Yeah…I guess”

  “It’ll turn out don’t worry” I said standing giving her a kiss then putting the medi-gel away.

 “Commander?” Joker piped in over the com. _He has some of the worst timing,_ I thought.

  “Yeah Joker?”

 “Priority message coming through from the Illusive man”

  “What does he want now?”

   “Says its urgent”

  “I’ll bet it is”

   “See what he wants I’ll be over here listening” I said leaning on one of the counters as she told Joker to put it through and the room went dark with a holo of the Illusive man appearing in the small circle of light.

  “Shepard, I need you to go to Horizon” he started. “Word is that the Collectors might be hitting there next,”

  “Is there time for me to tap a nap, or get something to eat before going out that way?” she asked.

  “Grab a few stims if you have to but this is the most warning we’ve gotten Shepard, let’s not waste this opportunity.” He explained more about the situation there and that Williams was stationed there.

  “What is she doing out that far in the Terminus?” Shepard asked.

  “Not sure, you might have to ask her. The word is though that she is out there on some sort of peace mission” he said.

  “Thanks for that, we’ll head out right away then” Shepard said as the line cut out and the room returned to normal. “You didn’t know about Williams?”

  “That was an Alliance channel I couldn’t follow after the group was separated. Hackett seemed to make sure of that one” I explained. It was odd though that they would station her so far out, but then again I wasn’t surprised.

  “Would there be any way you could get some info on her then?” she asked as I stood up.

  “Not really no, Hackett made sure that I wouldn’t be able to follow some leads for some odd reason” I replied crossing my arms.

  “Damnit. All right…I’ll go check in with Mordin, you get everyone and head down to the hold.” Shepard said heading out of the briefing room. The fact of the matter was, was that I knew all about Williams’s little operation in the Traverse thanks to Anderson leaving his channels open while using the restroom in the embassies. Even if Admiral Hackett wanted to keep it a secret he couldn’t. I hated lying to Shepard, but right now Williams was not someone we needed on this mission. Williams was the only one I hadn’t told about Shepard and her really being back.

   I got my gloves from the table and headed out and to the elevator to head down to the hold. “Did Shepard say who she is taking with her?” Garrus asked when I exited the elevator.

  “Not yet. Just a heads up that the collectors will be there and that Williams is also there” I said looking around at everyone. What a team we all made. This had all better be worth it.

  “Williams? I thought she went back Alliance posting” Garrus said as we walked to the KODIAK.

  “That is an Alliance posting, apparently from the higher brass.” I replied

  “Do you think that might be a problem?”

 “Not if she keeps her attitude in check if we get there before the collectors”

  “But you doubt it?”

  “Very much” I said noticing Shepard come out of the elevator with Mordin.

  “You know we have a briefing room and an armory for this sort of thing right Shep?” Kasumi asked

  “It’s good to keep some of the old habits” Garrus said when we joined the rest of them.

  “Thanks Garrus. Anyway, as you all know we’re on our way to Horizon. The Illusive man somehow was able to get Intel about the Collectors that would be their next target out in the Traverse. Mordin will mod all of your armors just in case and even though I will only be bringing two of you with me. We need to be ready for anything that they decide to hit us with. Let’s just hope that we can get to Horizon before the Collectors.” Shepard explained.

   “Who are you going to be taking then?” Taylor asked when Joker came over the com letting us know we were hitting the relay to Horizon.

  Shepard looked at the small table that was set up here in the hold staring at the weapons that we had gathered. “I’m going to take Garrus and Nihlus out on this one.

  “I’ll get the KODIAK ready then” Garrus said heading to the small shuttle.

  “I’ll start going through my channels and see if I can dig up more on what Williams is doing out there” I said following Garrus.

 “Everyone else be on your guard just in case the Collectors decide they want to play dirty.” Shepard said “Mordin we still have some time before we reach the actual planet; make sure everyone is modded and ready to go.”

  "Certainly. Seeker swarm mod hopefully will perform to standard” Mordin jabbered on pressing a few buttons on his Omni-tool.

   I pretended to go through my files at the terminal in the KODIAK. Williams was not going to be as flexible as Garrus in this whole thing and might be a kink in the mission. I looked down at my Omni-tool as Mrodin’s Seeker swarm cloak mod took to my heavy armor. Clicking it away I went on to look through my files. The Alliance was giving the small colony a way to protect itself from the most recent files. GARDIAN laser turrets, that didn’t quite work. This was going to be fun. “Spectre Kyrik you have a priority message” Chambers chimed in over my Omni-tool breaking my train of thought.

  “From who?” I asked there was no time for this.

  “Private, sir, and very much encrypted. I was able to stop it from going across Operative Lawson’s desk since I was told was that it was vital it get to you right away” She explained.

  “Very good Chambers send it through directly to my Omni-tool” I said. The young lady was good at her job I will give her that.

  “Aye, sir” she chirped out as my Omni-tool pinged with the message. I read through the file from my source on Horizon then viewed the attachment. The Collectors were there and harvesting already. The poor man’s last sight was the Collector’s dragging him away. C-Sec, good man, now at the mercy of these monsters. I made a note to notify the family if we don’t manage to get him back.

   “Joker, how far out are we?” I asked over the com as Shepard and Garrus entered the KODIAK.

  “We’re still about twenty minutes out why?” he asked

  “Yeah, Nihlus why?” Shepard asked holding her helmet.

   “Collectors are on Horizon already” I explained the situation.

   “We’ll take the shuttle the rest of the way then. Joker just be ready for pick up when we’re done. Garrus can you get the KODIAK there fast?” Shepard said distributing orders.

  “Just let me drive and we’ll get there” Garrus said taking the pilot seat

 “Find out anything else?” Shepard asked sitting next to me and buckling in.

  “Aside from a GARDIAN laser that hasn’t been working properly since it was installed not too much more.” I explained.

 “Sounds like this is going to be fun then” she said as we left the hold of the Normandy and headed for Horizon.

 

    Once we landed the planet was quiet. The collector ship sat in the distance like an ominous doomsday pillar. “Mordin are you sure this seeker swarm mod will work” Shepard asked taking point and leading Garrus and I out into the dead quiet of the colony.

   “Absolutely; in theory of course. Still to be field tested. Good luck” the Solarian said. You could hear the joy in his hyper active voice that his mod was finally being somewhat tested in the field. Garrus shook his head and I rolled my eyes, but the mods did seem to be working as we made our way along. The Seeker swarms ignored us for the most part save for the maybe one or two that tried their luck and failed. As we went forward we came across a few husks, they had a different feel to them, but still easily dispatched. As were most of the Seekers.  

   “Annoying little things aren’t they?” Garrus said while Shepard stopped to scavenge.

  “As long as we can get to the heart of the colony and figure out what it going on then I could care less” I said making a sweep of our small area.

  “Aren’t we snippy?” Garrus mumbled.

  “Keep your mandibles shut” I growled.

  “All right ladies ready to go” Shepard said dusting off her legs.

  “Really Shepard?” I asked as we headed out to the next area. Quiet like the last save for the annoying buzzing sound of the Seeker swarms.

  “Just trying to lighten the mood”

  “Unlike some of us”

   I rolled my eyes and kept quiet, I was out numbered. Garrus and Shepard had bonded as friends since Omega before coming to the Citadel. As long as he knows who she technically belongs to then I don’t have any problem. We rounded a corner and came across a dead husk Shepard felt the need to investigate. “Is it just me or are these husks different from the ones on Eden Prime?” she asked poking it with the nose of her assault rifle.

   “They do seem different in a way. Maybe they already had these husks?” I suggested looking at the dead one.

  “Seems like it. I don’t see any dragon’s teeth around like back on Eden Prime” Shepard said.

  “Was it that bad on Eden Prime?” Garrus asked

  “Pretty much, more husks though” Shepard explained.

  “And a lot more Geth. I’ve got a bad feeling about this Shepard” I said looking at the towering Collector ship in the distance.

  “Don’t say that please” she said over our private channel.

   I could understand the concern in her voice. Last time I said that I was almost killed by my former friend and mentor. Shepard was my saving light, I apologized and we moved further into the colony. Garrus took point as we entered the next area, making sure it was clear before we moved forward with him into covers as Collectors attacked. It took us a minute to see what ammo was more effective against them as they each fell in turn to Shepard’s incendiary rounds. Fire works well for most things.  One of the Collectors managed to get in close to Garrus, but with a quick few shots to the head it was down. Shepard had taken to getting in close and beating them down just to get at some stray ammo within the ruckus. 

   When the dust finally settled I looked over to Shepard hold one of the Collectors still beating its head in. “Shepard.” I called over our private channel. She turned to look at me with a wild fury in her eyes. “It’s dead Shepard.” She looked at the limp carcass in her grip then dropped it.

   “Let’s move” she breathed picking up some extra ammo as we silently went along. I kept a look out while she and Garrus scavenged for anything and everything that we might need. After a few moments Shepard let out a triumphant holler. I turned to see her holding one of the Collector’s weapons. “New toy!” she grinned changing out her flame thrower.

  “Should we let her have that?” Garrus asked before we headed into the next area.

   “I don’t know yet” I answered following Shepard up and down stairs, in and out buildings collecting info, credits and ammo. It wasn’t long before we were attacked by more Collector troops.

     Taking cover we worked at dispatching the collector troops. _What in the world?!_ I thought as I saw one of the troops be taken over by other force. He called himself Harbinger. There was an odd glow coming from the possessed collector, almost like it really wasn’t a collector anymore. I noticed out of my peripheral Shepard and Garrus stop for a moment and watch the collector. I could see Shepard mouth out a _What the fuck?!_ “Focus you two!” I called as we started an assault on the collector being controlled by Harbinger.  It focused most of its taunts at Shepard who just kept unloading on it. I hurled a grenade into the fray breaking up most of this cluster fuck we had gotten ourselves into. Random Collector body parts flying here and there, only to have two more charge in the place of each one that fell.

   After the one possessed by Harbinger fell one last time and we dispatched the last of the current wave we stopped for a moment to apply medi-gel. “And how are we supposed to do all of this again?” Garrus quipped rubbing his neck and surveying the damage.

  “Do what we can and hope for the best?” Shepard said inspecting the damage to her armor.

   “You’ll need a new set when we get a chance to dock next. And we’re just supposed to pull the miracle out of our asses like last time apparently” I said putting a quick patch on one of Shepard’s damaged leg plates.

  “There’s a bunker over there, maybe we can get a small breather before more of them come along.” Garrus said motioning to what looked like a small garage. It was better than nothing; hopefully we could find some medi-gel no one would miss in there to take with us.

  I helped Shepard up and the three of us walked over to the bunker. It was locked though not for long as Shepard began to hack through it. She was getting better at that that was for sure. Inside there was a small weapons locker, medi-gel refills, and a safe; Garrus went straight to hacking it. As he did Shepard and I drew our weapons on a noise that had been made by someone that had managed to escape the attack for the time being. Reminded me of the dock worker that would have gotten me killed on Eden Prime sleeping behind the crates; this human was actually hiding from a threat not just his boss.

  “Names Delan” he said with his hands up.

 “All right Delan, we would be really grateful if you could give us some information on what’s going on here” Shepard said being her usual polite self in the midst of company that could be reasoned with; even though she still had her weapon pointed at his face.

    “Yeah, yeah, sure just put down your guns and I’ll tell ya anything you want” he stammered and we lowered our weapons as Garrus rejoined us with a six thousand credit drop to the reserves.

  “Thank you” Shepard said before he started talking. He explained that there was an Alliance representative here to help oversee the installation of the GARDIAN laser cannons. Williams was here after all. He also explained that ever since things had been going wrong and to top things off the cannons weren’t working and needed to be configured.

  “They’re pretty much the only thing that can fend off that Collector ship I guess” he added.

  “Sounds like we should start heading to the docks and get those guns up and running” Garrus said.

   “Agreed. Thank you Delan, your services have been quite helpful” I said picking up a few more clips.

   “Thank you Delan. Don’t worry we’ll stop this” Shepard said. Delan waved her off expressing his dislike for the Alliance and the Spectres and going back to hiding. “What a ray of sunshine”

  “Most people out here in the Traverse are” I said as we moved to the door after refilling out medi-gel supplies.

    “All right everyone here we go” Shepard said opening the door and taking point as we exited. We managed to take cover just in time as we were attacked by more Collectors and husks, adding a Scion. Harbinger also made a point to show himself in this battle as well. We were knocked back more than once by the Scion before we were able to take out everything else. Garrus and I covered Shepard as she dove for more clips and a box of power cells for her new heavy weapon. The Scion went down after what felt like an eternity. Shepard sent an application of medi-gel through her unity system to all of us. It would only do so much. After this we were going to all need to see Dr. Chakwas whether we wanted to or not.

   “This is it.” Garrus pointed out when we stepped up to the door that led to the star port. We were worse for wear as I looked at them and surveyed the damage it had taken as well. Hopefully we could pull this off, it shouldn’t be that hard to calibrate a GARDIAN laser, should it?

    Shepard began to bypass the door’s systems. It had taken her a couple of tries before the lock turned green. She had mumbled missing the omni-gel bypass way of getting passed things like this. I had to agree I had missed it as well, but as times change so do security measures. We made sure to gather what we could find with us before actually pushing through the door to whatever awaited us on the other side.

   We opened the door, divided and took cover as we were bombarded with husks and two of those Scions. Garrus and I moved out of range as Shepard took on the husks and we took up perches to take out the Scions. It was not easy but I had managed to take out one of them as Shepard shot her way through to the transmitter. The last Scion fell and Garrus joined us as Shepard ordered EDI to get the lasers up and running. “I would advise taking a defensive position as Collector forces are incoming.” EDI said as she began her work on the getting the lasers back on line.

    The three of us had expected a hard battle to follow but nothing like this. Husks, drones, several other Collector troops and Harbinger again. He was particularly starting to get on all of our nerves as we fought through the first wave as EDI worked. Maybe out running Justicars was not as bad as I had thought in the long run. At least I knew I could out run them. There was only a moment’s pause before the next wave of husks, collectors and Harbinger. We did our best to keep moving and to keep them from flanking us as we took them all down in turn. EDI made sure to keep us up to date on the progress as the third wave started. “Now that I think about it, I think I’d rather be fighting the Blue Suns again” Shepard quipped as more Collectors appeared when the lasers were nearing one hundred percent.

   “That sounds like it would be a walk in the park compared to this” Garrus said when we had a breather before the next and hopefully the next wave.

  “Let’s just regroup and get ready we’ve got a big one in coming” I said noticing what read as a Praetorian in coming from the Collector ship in the distance. It was a big one all right and it was starting not to look so well for us in the long run.

   “You like to take things literally don’t you” Shepard growled as we hit cover.

  “But I’m fun aren’t I?”

  “Please get a room” Garrus quipped.

   The Praetorian was no walk in the park and fighting the Blue Suns again would have been a welcome change. Its focus was Shepard, which made it a little easier for Garrus and me to try to kill it. It wasn’t the best plan and I hated it but since they were Reaper controlled, letting Shepard be the bait for the time being was the only thing that we could do. Shepard unloaded her assault rifle on the thing one last time before it finally went down. “GARDIAN Lasers online!” EDI said as it fell

   “FIRE!!” Shepard shouted as the lasers repositioned themselves and began to fire at the Collector’s ship. As soon as the laser began their bombardment the Collector Ship started up and began to leave the planet. Shepard ran part way after shooting at it along with the lasers. In a way it was a victory though all in all it was more of a loss to her as the Collectors had made off with more than a third of the colony’s population.

  “Shepard, there isn’t any more we can do right now” I said when the ship disappeared.

 “I know” she said in a grumble making her way back to Garrus and I. Delan also decided to make himself known by saying he recognized her name. Not as much as two minutes later Williams walks up. I keep my hand on my pistol as her and Shepard have their reunion.  She explained how she had been sent out by the Alliance on a tip that Horizon might be next and that they had suspected Cerberus. Then the mood changed when Williams noticed the new colors on the shuttle that landed to pick us up.

  “Really Shepard?” she practically hissed.

  “I’m not working for them, they’re the only ones that seem to want to help…”Shepard tried to explain.

  “How do you know that? Maybe they’re just using you because they helped you so you think you owe them something?” Williams was relentless.

 “You’re not looking at the bigger picture Ash” Garrus tried to cut in

  “Bigger picture? What bigger picture?”

 “You saw what happened here Williams you know what’s at stake” I finally said

   Williams looked at both Garrus and I in turn, her face twisted in a sneer that focused back to Shepard. “I’m still an Alliance solider and I know where my loyalties lie.” Williams said

  “Then come with us Ash” Shepard offered in a vain attempt to get her to see reason.

  “No, Shepard, not this time.” Williams stopped the conversation and walked away from us to check on the remnants of the colony.

  I could see the pain in Shepard’s face through her visor. Williams was a friend, a sister in arms to Shepard. Garrus shook his head and headed to the shuttle, I put a hand on Shepard’s shoulder. Through her armor she felt smaller than I had remembered her, I could feel her tremble on pain and sadness. “Shepard?” I asked quietly.

   “Let’s go. I’ve had enough of this colony” she said turning and heading to the shuttle.

 

/      /     /

 

    When we were back on the Normandy Shepard did not have very nice words for the Illusive man and his withholding Intel and leaking Intel as well. Though I’m guilty myself I know how to keep myself covered I’ve been at this long enough. The Illusive man apologized and let slip he was also the instigator with those little tid bits of info with Shepard going to Horizon. “Don’t worry Shepard we’ll find a way through the Omega 4 relay. Until then you might want to keep building your team. I’ve sent you a few more dossiers to go after. Good luck Commander” he said cutting the transmission.

   The lights came up and the table returned to its spot in the center on the room. “How long did you know?” Shepard asked.

   “What do you mean?”  I asked still leaning on a far wall that was once shadowed when the lights went out.

    Before I knew it a pale fist hit me square in the face. Shepard hit me hard enough to knock me back. The stinging pain welled up in my nose as I felt warm liquid begin its drip down the front of my face through my nose. “Don’t play with me Nihlus” she said evenly. Given the power behind the hit I had expected yelling.

  “Be a little more specific” I coughed tasting the blood in my throat. I knew exactly what she was talking about, but there was also anger pent up inside that little human that needed to be worked out. If that meant taking a few hits, I wouldn’t mind, she could make it up to me later I supposed. I heard a growl and another fist came flying at my face. Ducking I took a swing at her abdomen, causing her to cough and heave doubling over. “EDI lock the door. No one gets in no matter what goes on not even Operative Lawson” I walked away from the wall as she hacked.

   “That may not be wise”

  “That’s an order EDI” Shepard coughed getting up putting all her strength into trying to pear me into the table. Little minx was successful in knocking the wind out of me as I hit the table.

   “Yes, Commander” EDI said and the lock on the door went red. For Turians fighting it out was the best kind of therapy. She was learning, slowly be surely, not everything can be solved with words.

   We were both exhausted from the fight on Horizon which made this fight on the ship a short one for the most part. She was scratched, clawed and bit. I was just as bloodied from what she was able to land. We sat on the floor in the far corner her heaving frame straddling my waist. “How….long, Nihlus?” she asked again when we were both too exhausted to even lift our arms.

   “Awhile…” I said explaining my Intel and my files.

  “Figures” she said taking a deep breath and flopping her chin on my collar, her body going limp.

 “I’m sorry”

   “Don’t worry about it” she said. Damn this woman and her logic. I love her.

   “As this ship’s doctor EDI, I will override the Commander and you will open this door” Chakwas said as the door went green and opened. “What in all the nine levels…Shepard! Nihlus!”

   The only thing the two of us were able to muster was a laugh at the good doctor as she had Grunt help move us so she could work on us. She grumbled something about using old earth medicine as she applied medi-gel, stitched what could be stitched and healed what minor things she could without having to haul us into the medical bay. “…next time you two feel like you need to work out some stress please do it in a more open space if this is what you will be doing” she hen pecked at both of us. We continued to laugh even after she was finished. The others looked at us like we were crazy helping us to out cabin and leaving us for the time being. “Where are my fish?” Shepard noted when the door closed as Grunt and Jacob left.

    I looked at the tank and noted its emptiness. “We’ll get you more. Sleep right now” I said as we hit the bed and fell asleep in each other’s arms. The medicine made it easier to sleep, and at doctor’s orders we were left undisturbed, and for good measure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another down. again guys i'm sorry it took so long, but i'm going to be going back to getting into a rhythm of writing again. i hope you all enjoyed and with out any of you this could not be possible. thank you all for being so patient with me. again thank you for reading and see you all in the next chapter :D <3


	6. 5.5/6 Normandy Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grunt, Jack, Kasumi and Zaeed get into some trouble. the fishes are some how involved and there is some minor character death. 
> 
> (spoiler! : tis the fishes)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5.5 because what goes on in here happens during the Horizon mission with those who got stuck on the Normandy, also wanted to put up a little funny chapter. going to try it from another character's pov more likely EDI's if i can. i hope i do good. please enjoy :D

    “What are you two doing” Kasumi asked watching Jack and Grunt try to hack the lock on Shepard’s cabin.

   “What’s it look like?” Jack snarked slicing through a few panels before getting stuck and it kicking her out of the system.

  “A poor attempt at breaking and entering?” Kasumi mused still watching them.

  “You’re supposed to be a master thief why don’t you get over here and open the door for us?” Grunt crossed his arms over his chest.

    “EDI, should we let them in if they’re going to go ahead and get Kasumi involved?” Joker asked as we watched from the bridge from a second camera. The first camera was keeping track of Shepard, Nihlus and Garrus on Horizon.

   “It is entirely up to you Mr. Moreau. Though I doubt the Commander and Spectre Kyrik would appreciate their cabin being broken into.” I said sending damage reports to Dr. Chakwas for when Shepard and her team returned.  

  "I think it would be hilarious for Nihlus to catch them in the act" Joker commented watching the three in the upper levels then to the three on the planet's surface. Shepard and the others were progressing quite well given the strength of our enemy. I changed the hacking sequence once more to trip Ms. Goto as she neared to opening Shepard's cabin. 

   "Blast!"

 "What happened?" 

   "The sequence changed!" 

  "Let's just blow the damn thing that way they can't hide anything" 

     "Then what fun would that be?" 

  "Wow, they are getting desperate aren't they hahahaha" Joker laughed at their attempts to open the cabin. 

"Quite desperate it would seem" I responded going through data and other scans that Shepard and her team were picking up as they progressed. Sending it either to the armory or to Dr. Solas's lab for later study or use.  

   It was not much later before Mr. Masnani joined the small group trying to break into the Commander's cabin. His hacking skills surprisingly matched that of Ms. Goto as he managed to out hack my sequence changes with the help of our resident thief. "Now that's how you get passed a lock and not get a Spectre's bullet to your head later" Zaeed smiled as they walked into the interior of the cabin. 

   "I've been in here before but it just seems different now somehow, more like a little home away from home" Kasumi commented on the atmosphere of the room. I did not read any changes within from when Nihlus first came aboard to now. Of course I am no more than a simple AI. Grunt poked the glass that held some fish that Shepard had attained between Omega and the Citadel. Jack was also a surprise as she held the tiny mammal that occupied the shelf behind Shepard's desk. 

   "With having a Spectre on board i half expected there to be more artillery in here, more so than usual anyway." Zaeed commented taking a look around the room itself. Nihlus was what Shepard called an expert pack rat; he knew how to conceal many things in multiple areas within the cabin and around the Normandy itself. 

Kasumi lounged on the cornered couch within the small living area. It was most interesting to watch them interact, especially with the Commander's effects. "You guys are going to get into trouble you know that right?" Joker's voice came over the intercom. I was unsure if he was trying to warn them of what was surely going to be their impending doom. 

  "Heh, what are they going to do? For all they know we were just feeding the fish" Jack said petting the tiny mammal with her finger. 

Just then a loud spurp could be heard near the fish tanks. Grunt had somehow opened the tank and managed to eat the fish that were inside. "When Nihlus puts a bullet in your skull don't come crying to me then, you were warned" Joker said cutting out. 

   "You just ate, and you go and eat the fish?!" Jack exclaimed at the young Krogan. 

"Now we're going to get into trouble. Sorry but I don't want that particular Spectre angry" Kasumi said cloaking herself and slipping out of the cabin. 

  "Whats going on in here?" Operative Lawson asked walking up seeing Zaeed, Grunt and Jack in the Commander's cabin. 

"I was just leaving. I tried to warn them" Zaeed said walking passed Operative Lawson. 

  Lawson crossed her arms over her chest watching Grunt and Jack carefully. Jack made an inaudible noise before replacing the tiny mammal to its small habitat before walking out to the elevator. Grunt was still standing in front of the fish tank holding his stomach. "Not as good as they looked" he groused walking out of the cabin. Lawson let out an exasperated huff making sure nothing was out of place then re-locked the door. 

   "You alerted Operative Lawson." i said appearing back on the bridge next to Joker watching the exchange between Shepard and one of their former crew mates. 

   "Sure did. Shepard is one thing, but Nihlus is another; all he has to do is look at you with those eyes. Damn those eyes" Joker replied. 

 

   Later Grunt had made his way to Dr. Chakwas in the medical bay as Shepard had her debriefing with the Illusive man. "My dear thing what did you eat?" the Doctor asked. 

  "Fish" he answered simply. 

  "Oh Grunt. Don't worry young man I have just the thing" she said giving him a quick injection and handing him a glass of water 

   "Thanks, Doc" he said after downing the water. 

  "You aren't out of the woods yet. If the fish you ate are the fish I think you ate then you are in for a very rough few days." the Doctor said. Grunt groaned. 

  The noise from the main level could be heard as Shepard and Nihlus sparred inside the debriefing room. I had let doctor Chakwas know that there was going to be need for a medical professional as the sparring winded down and the noises began to stop. She shook her head and grabbed a small bag, Grunt following closely behind, apparently not wanting to miss what action was left before they stopped. 

   Blue and red blood had splattered on the walls and there was carnage between the two of them. They claimed to love each other yet they fought as if they were mortal enemies. I had heard that Turians would spar to settle most differences, but I did not quite understand this behavior. I observed as Dr. Chakwas had Grunt move Shepard from Nihlus, the both of them laughing at something that the doctor had said and they had found amusing. Yet another thing I did not quite understand. I would have to ask Joker about it at a later date a supposed. After the commander and Nihlus were patched up they were sent on their way to their cabin. Shepard had noticed the tank "What happened to my fish?" Shepard asked still under the effects of the medicine. 

  "We'll get you more" Nihlus said leading her to their bed causing them to fall on top of the sheets. I turned off the camera that fed into the cabin. 

  "Oh come on EDI you're no fun" Joker pouted trying to turn the camera back on. I would not let him. This was what I found amusing. 

"I think it would be wise that they have some privacy before we move on to the next name on the dossier" I said 

   "Yeah, you're right. After what happened on Horizon who could blame them?" he said making his way to the Mass Relay that was in the area. "You think the commander wants to go to get the 'engineer' on Haestrom first or should we start towards Illium?" 

   "It might benefit us in the long run if we scan for resources" I suggested

"Right, cause we could always use those kinds of things" Joker let out a chuckle redirecting to a nearby planet for us to scan. This certainly was going to be a learning experience for all of us, albeit a very entertaining one as we could hear Grunt in pain from eating Shepard's fish. I think I am going to enjoy being on this crew. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well i hoped you like this little diddy. i enjoyed watching it. going to be working on the next major chapter soon also, i've been given most of the early shifts so i have evening to work on it. :D  
> again hope you all enjoyed and thank you for reading
> 
> Edit: since I can't get the chapter listings to work right this will be chapter six


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard and the team acquire Tali and head to Illium. Told from Nihlus's POV. Also some yelling i think with Liara. suspicious activity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEXT! lol i updated as planned this time :D. i've read over this and it seemed fine to me and i had my reader read over it and she said it sounded good. oh i hope it is been working on it in the evenings when i get home from work. so please enjoy :)

 

“I’m all for warm climates but this planet is ridiculous” I said to Shepard as her and her team landed on the surface of Haestrom.  

“So we’ll fight in the shade, can we just get on with this?” Grunt growled.

“Almost as bad as earth during the summer” Zaeed decided to pipe in. I had decided to stay back on this mission to go over resources and upgrades while Shepard went for Tali. Shepard was hoping this time that she would join us, she wasn’t sure she could take another verbal beat down like the one on Horizon.

“EDI’s also picking up some heavy Geth activity out there so be careful commander” Joker said swiping a few screens over to the helmet display in Zaeed’s helmet.

“Got it, all right everyone let’s move out” Shepard gave the order and they were on their way.

“Were you able to dig up anything else on why Tali is out this far in Geth space?” Joker asked when the com shut off.

“No. Quarians keep to themselves with most everything even with activities that come from the Flotilla or otherwise. Not even young Quarians on Pilgrimage give much information, especially to Spectres” I explained trying to get a better signal on the radios and cameras. The suns radiation was interfering with a lot of the systems, we were going to have much commentary for this mission. Even with the Geth roaming about we had to be careful even in orbit. “We might want to move to behind the planet’s moon. There might be a way to cut through all this radiation.”

“Sounds good to me, I like a good tan as much as the next person but I don’t need to be extra crispy, if you get my drift” Joker said as he moved the Normandy to orbit around Haetrom’s moon. “You’re right it is a lot cooler over here”

“Really?”

“I thought it was a good one” Joker laughed.  

“We need to get you off this ship next time we take shore leave” I said shaking my head trying to strengthen the signal through the sun’s radiation.

“But I like it here, my nice leather chair and I get to watch all of you guys having fun.” He said. He needed to get off the ship; having the AI the only interaction for periods at a time can’t be good for him.

“I’m starting to think that insanity is a required trait for the Alliance” I said managing to get a semi good signal.

“And leading the charge is the very woman who became the first human Spectre. I think we’re doing pretty well then” he swiped over a screen from Shepard’s helmet as she set a charge to a large block in from of some kind of bunker. “And you’re dating her”

I sighed watching the fuzzy camera feeds. Haestrom was an old Quarian world, even though the sun seemed to be giving off more heat and radiation than should be normal for a star that was not even that old yet. We may have had video but the audio was pretty much shot so I brought up some old files to go over while we watched their progress through the old ruins. “Ya, know, those files aren’t going to go away just by you staring at them” Joker said glancing at my screens. I had taken Saren’s old files on myself personally, even some of the cases he had put on hold after he came across Sovereign.

“Why would you say that?”

“Just saying that’s all. No use stewing over them, might as well read through them and get it over with” he explained.

He was right for someone who spent the majority of his time on the bridge. “They’re Saren’s old files. Before, during and what he had planned after Sovereign.” I explained.

“Why would you keep those?” he looked at me leaning slightly out of his chair.

“He was once my mentor and he was once a friend Joker. Wouldn’t you keep something of one of your friends that have passed?” I asked tilting my head slightly at him. He stared at me for a few moments mulling it over then sat back.

“After all that he did it’s still hard to believe that he was ever any kinds of good” he said pulling a screen up from Shepard’s helmet cam, she was talking to a Quarian soldier that was part of Tali’s team that was there. “Turians are weird”

“You’re weird”

“Keep telling yourself that” he said watching the blurry footage.

I opened a random file; it mentioned Anderson before he became Admiral. There were many other various cases and missions and dossiers, but the one with Anderson caught my attention. He had crossed paths with a Lieutenant Anderson during an investigation into an attack on a human lab called Sidon.  Reading the files I zoned out the commotion on the cameras with the Geth, the Quarian marine and Tali. From how Joker was cheering and jeering it must have been quite a show. It was interesting how slowly Saren went from the Turian I once knew to the almost mindless puppet that Sovereign had taken and twisted. “This…is new” I mumbled then breaking from my concentration as Joker cheered. I looked at the screen to the action that was taking place. Somehow they had managed to take down a Geth Colossus with the help of the Quarian they called Kal’Reeger.

“I expect nothing less of course” I said looking at our pilot. It was hard to see him as having a disease that made his bones like paper with the way he cheered.

“Yeah, but a giant Geth Colossus man! Hahahaha! That was great, terrifying at first but they took it down” Joker exclaimed.

“I will have Dr. Chakwas ready in the med bay. Grunt has managed to take the brunt of the damage though Shepard and Zaeed will need to be examined once they return before debrief.” EDI said popping up quickly “I will also have the doctor ready to examine Tali’Zorah as well for extra precaution” and with that she popped out again leaving her console at the bridge.

“I guess that thing is useful for something” Joker said getting the Normandy ready to pick up the shuttle that carried Shepard and the others. “Is there anything useful in those creepy files from your creepy old former creep?”

“I’ll let you know when and if I find something that would pertain to this in anyway. Of course Shepard will be the first to know” I told him standing and heading back to the briefing room to greet Tali and wait for Shepard. Still reading through the data I had inadvertently walked into the table.

“Here’s Spectre Kyrik, Tali’Zorah” Jacob announced when I growled at the table.

“Hello Nihlus” she said

“Hello Tali’Zorah” I said putting the data pad away “Was Chakwas able to examine you?”

“Yes, she has become quite versed in Quarian physiology. I am glad.” She replied trying to ignore Jacob and the colors that he was wearing. “Shepard should be joining us shortly; she was making sure ‘her baby’? And the old man were all right and didn’t get a sun burn.”

“Grunt and Zaeed. I think Shepard has taken to Grunt as a child though he is a full grown Krogan.” I explained “Zaeed is just a crotchety old fart in Shepard’s words” Tali let out a small noise at the thought of Grunt as the baby and Zaeed the grandfather, given he was a founder of the Blue Suns. Jacob sat quietly and watched the conversation Tali and I were having. He knew he would have to earn Tali’s trust with being a part of Cerberus.

“Tali!” Shepard exclaimed walking in the door to the small room. She was patched up with bandages and the smell of medigel. I leaned against one of the walls while they talked. Tali was more than happy to lend a grenade when this was all over considering what Cerberus had done, not only in the past but to the Quarian people.

“If you’ll excuse me I’ll be in engineering. Have to make sure the drive core is up to par” Tali said walking out of the room

“Don’t forget to introduce yourself to EDI, the Normandy’s new artificial intelligence” Jacob called quickly before the door could close. Tali turned and gave him an incredulous look as the door closed.

“That didn’t go over well” I commented before Jacob left Shepard and I in the room alone.

“This is going to be one hell of a ride now” Shepard shook her head and leaned against the table. “Miranda said that we have enough resources to get some upgrades to the Normandy so when we get to Illium we’ll be upgrading the armor plating and the med bay. Mordin is working on the minor little things that he and Jack have asked for and Garrus plans to oversee the equipment of a set of Thanix cannons.” She had picked up one of the data pads that monitored the ship and its systems.

“Have you heard from Liara?” she asked looking up at me and where I still stood against the wall.

“Here and there I have but I haven’t seen her since the Normandy was attacked” I answered walking over to her and taking her in my arms. “So how is the ‘baby’?”

She chuckled lightly finding a way to lay her head on my chest comfortably “Grunt is fine and so is Zaeed; nothing more than scratches and little sun burns of course”

“Good to hear.” I nuzzled her hair and held her as close as I possibly could. She smelled of medigel and medication, and the slight hint of what ever food Rupert was cooking down in the mess.

“You’re ok with Grunt being referred as that?” she asked catching on that I never missed a beat.

“Technically he is still an adolescence.” I replied

“Good” she said with a smile. “We’re also going to see Liara when we get there if she isn’t too busy”

“Fine by me as long as we can take a little time to ourselves before you go for those other names on the dossier; hopefully the Justicar won’t know me” I said

“Sure, after I see what you’ve been reading” she managed to slip my data pad out of my pockets and run out the door and disappear into the elevator before I had a chance to react. That damned minx. I followed hoping that there wouldn’t be too much more tension when she read through the data pad and what was in it.

“Shepard?” I asked making sure she wasn’t about to throw something.

“Saren’s old files?” she asked

“I took them personally after the battle in the Citadel. I just opened them while you were down on Haestrom.” I said sitting next to her on the bed. “Thought they might be useful”

“Maybe…” she started before setting the data pad on the bedside table. I explained what I had read and bit of Anderson story that he more likely forgot to mention when he was being considered for Spectre training. We sat in silence for a long moment; Shepard stared at her now empty fish tank. I told her what Chakwas had told me about Grunt and the fish. She snorted and laughed shaking her head saying that is why she will consider him a baby until further notice. She leaned up and gave me a kiss on my mandible then laid her head on my shoulder. We were something else that was for sure. I just hope we somehow won this and all came out alive.

“How about before we go after the Justicar, assuming you’ll want to get her on board first; we get some well-deserved shore leave?” I asked running my talons through her hair.

“Twenty-four hours. While the upgrades are being put on and then we go back to work. I want to get some more fish” she said drowsily.

“Deal” I said. Shepard was half asleep when I moved the two of us onto the bed. She mumbled something about a vacation when all of this was over. Something told me that vacation was going to be a ways off. Hackett and Anderson hounded me daily about Shepard; if everything was all right, when will the Collectors be dealt with. Not to mention her parents wanting regular updates. I gave all three parties just bare essentials when it came to the mission. As Spectres we had the right to do what we wanted, but Shepard was also an Alliance soldier and she would have to face that sooner or later. I dreaded the day when this would be over. She would have to face charges for working with Cerberus on Earth. These were not the best thoughts to have during a mission like this one.

I radioed to Joker to go ahead and make out way to the relay and then onto Illium. He gave a quick aye, aye and the Normandy began to move smoothly through space. I laid on the bed with Shepard sprawled out on top of me as per the usual way we had always slept since that first night. Turning the lights off so that the fish tank was the only light in the room, her breathing was slow and the nightmares came in bursts. Thankfully they had not been too extreme to wake her so she could sleep somewhat peacefully.

 

When we arrived on Illium we were greeted by one of the port concierges. “Ms. T’Soni’s office is on the top floor overlooking the trade center. And per Ms. T’Soni your docking fees have been waived during your stay here on Illium” she explained to us.

“Thank you” Shepard said not probing the subject; we were docking gratis on Illium the capital of outrageous fees.  Shepard made it clear that Tali would be coming with the two of us to see Liara. Tali didn’t protest joining me near the door to the main port and trading promenade. Shepard had told the others to behave, especially Grunt, Jack and Zaeed. Those three being the reason Tali would be coming with us. Shepard thought they might do something to get them in trouble and Tali looked like she was about to put a shot gun shell in someone’s head if it came to that. Garrus went on to oversee the upgrades and whatever other repairs the Normandy might have needed. Joker insisted that he would sit happily on the bridge and stay out of the way.

“What about Lawson and Taylor?” Tali asked when Shepard finally joined us.

“Lawson is staying aboard and Jacob will be with Mordin going over some upgrades for our weapons.” Shepard explained walking through the doors. Tali and I followed and of course we looked at what shops were available to us for the moment. I surveyed the area from where I stood next to Shepard at the kiosk and her mumbling complaint about the prices being high. I noticed a one Ms. Parasini over near one of the tables that was connected to the small bar.

“Shepard. I think I see a mutual friend of ours, why don’t we say hi” I said touching her back lightly and motioning over to the internal affairs agent from Noveria. She blinked and noticed Parasini; she waved and walked over to the table. I motioned for Tali and we joined them at the table.

Ms. Parasini ordered Shepard a drink while slipping a data pad under it. She was asking Shepard to help her in nailing the shop clerk for smuggling some plans off of Noveria. “Don’t forget to drink your beer” she added before leaving the table and disappearing. The woman was good at her job I had to give her that.

“So all we have to do is get the shop clerk to spill the beans so to speak?” Tali asked.

“It shouldn’t be too hard, she looks nervous anyway, even with Parasini gone for the moment” I said watching the Asari shop clerk.

“Because you’re a Spectre Nihlus.” Shepard said standing giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. I rolled my eyes standing back with Tali and watched her talk with the clerk.

“So, when is the wedding?” Tali asked trying to sound innocent.

“What are you talking about?” I asked looking at the young Quarian.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. She’s back, and we have been attached at the proverbial hip from what Garrus has told me, you even monitor her missions with Joker” Tali explained.

I let out a sight and shook my head pinching the bridge of my nose. It wasn’t a topic I had considered lately. I had thought about it before the attack, and it had passed vaguely across my mind since Shepard had come back. I just didn’t know at this point as I watched Parasini and the Asari argue then the Asari walk off to find her lawyer. Parasini thanked Shepard before going on her way after explaining a little more in detail what this was all about. Tali chuckled slightly as Shepard joined us once again. “What?” she asked as she heard Tali giggle and I shook my head. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing Shepard, let’s go see Liara.” I said

“Tali?”

“I’ll tell you later” the young Quarian mused at how everything that just happened went over Shepard’s head.

“You had better” She said as we made our way up to Liara’s office. We had been greeted by her secretary Nyxeris.

“You must be Commander Shepard, Dr. T’Soni is expecting you go right on in” she said when the doors opened to Liara talking with some kind of informant.

“Have you ever seen an Asari commando before? Give me what you promised or next time I see you I will flay you…with my mind” Liara threatened the man on the other end of the line before cutting it and turning to greet us. “Shepard! It’s good to see you”

“Liara” Shepard smiled and embraced the Asari.

“Tali’Zorah, Nihlus, it’s good to see that you both are well” Liara smiled warmly at us in turn pulling away from Shepard.

“You too Liara” Tali responded.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here on any Spectre business” I said holding my hands up.

“Good I was hoping to catch up with you all anyway” Liara said taking a seat behind her desk. “And yes I already know that you are with Cerberus”

“I’m just using their resources” Shepard replied sitting in the chair across from Liara.

“I know that as well. Don’t worry Shepard I know you’re doing this for the right reason or else you wouldn’t be doing this at all.” Liara explained

“They also wanted me to pass this along to you. Not sure why though except that you’ve been hunting the Shadow Broker for some reason” Shepard said shifting in her seat. This was something I didn’t know. Of course I hadn’t had much time to look over Shepard’s messages.

“Yes. I wasn’t sure if the Intel could be trusted. I will have to go over it a few times though.” Liara said a tinge of pain in there somewhere. “Thank you for passing it on to me Shepard.”

I stood in one of the corners listening to the conversation, it was as if they had never missed a beat even Tali was more into the conversation they were having. Liara gave us what she knew on Thane Krios, and Samara the Asari Justicar. That was the one that worried me. I had crossed paths with that particular one before, before I had met Shepard when I was still young in my career as a Spectre. I watched Liara’s secretary for another moment when they finally stood and walked over to where I was standing.  “I you could hack a few points around Nos Astra Shepard that would be most helpful.” Liara said holding a few things back. She suspected that she was being watched by the Shadow Broker for the time being and kept most of the conversations to talking in circles.

“Will do Liara, it was good to see you again” Shepard said

“You as well. Please do visit again when you have the chance, I’d very much like to see the new Normandy” Liara smiled as we walked out of the office and back down to the trading floor.

“So, what now?” Tali asked sitting at the small table next to the stairs.

“For right now, we get some shore leave and recuperate from…everything” Shepard said sitting in the chair opposite to Tali.

“I’ll head back to the Normandy then and check resources. I think we can trim up the drive core to give us an edge.” Tali explained standing and heading to where the ship was docked.

“Make sure you check in with Garrus, he’s getting the cannons upgraded” Shepard called after her as she waved in acknowledgement. “Sigh, one big happy family”

“Of course we are” I said resting my hands on her shoulders giving them a light squeeze. “Since we have a few hours, I was thinking maybe we go to the lounge and then have a night all to ourselves”

“How about we just skip straight to the night all to ourselves bit in a nice hotel on the Illusive Man’s dime?” she suggested looking up at me. I ran my talons lightly up her neck into her hair and nuzzled the top of her head.

“Sometimes I actually do like the way you think” I said my mandible twitching up into a small smile as she caught my teasing of her judgment. We both laughed and she kissed me as she stood. We made our way to a good hotel and somehow managed to have a quiet night to ourselves. Before we had sat down to our dinner Shepard checked in with Joker, and surprisingly enough no one had managed to get into any trouble especially the merc, Krogan, and thief.  

Liara had suggested a very nice hotel, and Shepard and I would owe her one for this. When we had finished dinner we made our way into the bed room. It was as big as our cabin back on the Normandy with an even larger bed, softer also. Shepard fell back on the bed relishing the comfort, I took the opportunity to pounce and it felt so good to be able to do that again. I nuzzled at the crook of her neck taking in her scent and the smell of her usual soap and the smallest hints of the perfume she loved that had come from earth. Our clothes became too constricting as we fooled around on the bed; soon we lay naked on the silk sheets without a care in the universe. Feeling her warmth, hearing her moan and just being there with her, the universe and Reapers be damned.

When we were finally sated we simply laid tangled in each other’s limbs not wanting to move. The night was still young though at this point it was just better to stay in, away from the Normandy for the time being and away from everything. I traced old scars along her sides and some new ones from when Cerberus had rebuilt her. “What all did Liara say?” I asked curious as to what was said since I was monitoring the odd secretary.

“…you don’t know?” she asked looking up at me.

“I had a feeling so I was only half listening.”

“She was the one who gave me to Cerberus” Shepard said laying her head on my chest. I stared at the ceiling in shock. With all my contacts and resources this was one thing I did not see coming.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked trying to keep my voice level and to keep myself from getting up to go rip the Asari a new one for not putting me in the loop.

“She made deals with the Shadow Broker to find my body. She said it was either have Cerberus do what they did or let me go to the Collector’s” Shepard explained, I could feel her trace the ridges and grooves one the plates of my carapace. I was angry I a sense, but then I could also understand her reasoning. I could also hear slightly more pain and hurt in Shepard’s voice as she continued to explain what Liara was able to tell her without giving too much away when we in her office. “…please don’t be mad with her Nihlus, she only did what she thought was right”

“And asking you to hack terminals around Nos Astra is accomplishing what exactly?”

“She said there was a leak and the Shadow Broker might be after her as much as she was after him. There apparently might be some kind of leak.” She explained. “Cerberus Intelligence had some info but she said she needs a little more”

We laid in the dark silence of the room for several moments before I turned and took Shepard in my arms holding her as close as I possibly could. “I guess I should be thanking them and Liara then” I said. I was still a little angry at the whole thing but now was not the time, now was for Shepard and I and I was not going to let it ruin this night.

“What do you mean?”

“They gave you back to us, back to me” I explained feeling her slow warm breath on my chest. She made what I could only assume was a content noise nuzzling herself under my arm.

“Now it’s your turn, what were you and Tali talking about while I was helping Giana?” she asked

“She was just teasing us that was all” I replied remembering how Tali had asked when the wedding was. How the hell was I supposed to know with all this mess around us going on?

“Come on, I told you what I was talking about with Liara, tell me what you and Tali were talking about” she pressed the issue.

I sighed and said “Tali had asked when the wedding was” Shepard sat up on her elbow looking at me with a quizzical smile her eyebrow raised. “Really Shepard?”

“I didn’t say anything”

“No, you were thinking it.”

“True enough but hahahaha!”

“Do you really think that this is the time to discuss this?”

“Haha, not really, but maybe…”

I knew where this was going. I had thought about it, I had. I was planning on asking her on the Citadel when she had returned from that so called routine mission that turned into an attack that destroyed almost everything. Now that she was back thanks to Liara and Cerberus the thought had occurred to me more than once since we had left the Citadel. “How about I make you a deal for the time being?” I said running a talon lightly along her arm.

“And what kind of deal are we talking?” she asked

“Give me some time to get everything ready and I will make sure it’s something to remember and to actually brag about. I wanted this to be something that everyone one would talk about, not just gossip on the Normandy” I explained

“How much time?”

“Unspecified amount of time. It’ll be a surprise when everything is finally in line” I said leaning up to touch our foreheads together. “At least then it’ll be official, for your custom I suppose”

“Then you have a deal Spectre Kyrik” she smiled and we kissed.

“Can we get back to our otherwise very short vacation before getting back to the fracas with finding Krios and Samara?” I asked my sub-vocals humming and purring at her scent and touch.

“Of course” she said as we laid back down and settled in once again for the night.

The next morning we were at the Normandy early, she gathered Garrus and Tali to go with her and they headed off to find Samara first. I had hoped she would go after Krios but it was too much. “Hey where ya going, you’re going to miss some good action” Joker called after me as I went to the air lock.

“I’ll only be a few minutes Joker” I said heading out and making my way to Liara’s office. “Get lost, Spectre authority” I told the secretary and she was all too happy to leave her monitoring of Liara for a while as long as I was here.

“Nihlus, what do I owe…?” she started before she saw the anger in my eyes. “I’m sure Shepard told you what I had done?”

“You could have told me Liara” I said “Instead of sending me cryptic messages like that”

“Nihlus I did what I had to since no one else would. You’re a Spectre, you’re bound to the council, you would have been labeled rogue like Saren. I couldn’t endanger anymore of my friends.” She explained keeping herself level. All I could do was glare at her for all of this. Cerberus kept their promise to return Shepard to us, but being out of the loop made me furious.

“And as a Council Spectre I would have been able to keep you from the Shadow Broker’s agents. Damn it Liara you should have said something!”

“Damn it Nihlus, you’re not the only one who loved her!” she exclaimed slamming her hands on her desk standing. “We all did, we all do. I know what Cerberus did to Admiral Kohoku, but they were willing to bring her back, not string her up like some trophy in a glass casket. You all are my friends and I didn’t want to see what we all had worked so hard to do fall apart because of cowardice from the rest of the universe”

“Liara…”

“Shepard is the only one that can do anything about this Nihlus, she can end this, not just because she’s been in contact with beacons or has the cipher, but she is the only one aside from those of us she is close to her that can stop any of this.” She said sitting back down, she seemed as exhausted as Shepard did these days. I sighed and shook my head sitting in the chair across from Liara. I asked her for specifics telling her that I had sent away her secretary on Spectre authority. She confided in me a little more than what she had told Shepard, about Ferron and the Shadow Broker, the  deals she had made, and favors she owed and the intel that Cerberus had come across, and that she still wanted the certain terminals hacked to make sure she wasn’t being paranoid for nothing.

“How long before you’re able to go through the data from Cerberus?” I asked finally as I stood to exit.

“Shouldn’t be more than a day or two; you and Shepard will be the first to know, I promise.” She said.

“Good. Shepard and I will help you and you won’t be able to say no” I said.

“Thank you Nihlus.” She said giving a small smile as I left. When I reached the bottom of the stairs Nyxseris was on her way back from the bar by the smell of the snack she had.

“Good day” I said to her walking back to the Normandy. Joker was on at his spot on the bridge cheering Shepard, Garrus, and Tali on as they fought Eclipse.

“Nihlus, you have missed some action, this is getting good. Shepard just shot an Eclipse point blank…it was kind of awesome with Tali and Garrus there too, but ya know” he said as I took my seat next to him.

“Joker?”

“What?”

“If you were given a choice, to either let an enemy take the one you love and make them a trophy on a wall or would you give them to a known terrorist organization?” I asked. He turned in his seat and looked at me with a _what the fuck kind of question is that,_ look.

It took him several minutes for him to answer as his wheels turned and he thought about it finally catching on. “Lesser of the two evils I guess. If it means that the person in question can continue to kick some Reaper ass then it’s off the to terrorist group I guess. Hell man I don’t know, I heard the talk you and Liara had. When the Alliance took everything away Cerberus gave me a chance to fly again, gave us back the Normandy and gave us back the one person I consider my best friend….right now it just seems right ya know?” he explained “I’m no good at this. Can we just get back to watching those three kick some Eclipse ass?”

I sat back in my seat and pulled up the screens from Shepard’s helmet camera, and Joker went back to his screens. I closed my eyes and let out a heavy sigh, Shepard was here, and she was not going anywhere anytime soon ever again; not without me at least. Liara and Joker were right, though it would more than likely come to bite us in the ass later on; I took it as a hard fought for blessing of some kind. I would mull it over later, Shepard and the others were apparently almost done with trying to convince the Justicar to join the crew, I stood and made my way to the briefing room, might as well get this over with. I could hear Joker say that this was going to be good as the others made their way back to the ship.

It was going to be good. Hopefully I could keep myself from getting a dose of the swift Asari justice that the Justicars dish out while still in Asari space. “What have I stepped into this time” I grumbled as I made myself comfortable and waited and hoped that I didn't get a bullet to the head. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another down and on to work on the next. i hope you all enjoyed and now its on to bed for me. also thank you all for reading, you guys are awesome <3 :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Samara and Nihlus have a small conversation about a certain fixed point in time, then it is off to find Thane in Dantius Towers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter is now up and ready to go :D! anywho, there have been a lot of real life things going on that have been making me hurt a lot. but i'm still here and still working extra hard to bring you all the fan fiction. please enjoy 
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer thing: i don't own anything really i just writes the fan fiction.

    “I’d put that away if I were you Justicar” I said calmly sitting in the briefing room as Samara walked in putting her pistol to my temple.

   “And why should I, Spectre?” Samara asked in her cold Asari tones.

  “You made an oath to you code to Shepard. I don’t think she’ll take you bringing me to ‘justice’ very lightly” I said clicking through my data pad as Shepard walked in.

   “Put the gun down Samara, I want to make this quick we still have one more to pick up.” Shepard commanded stepping into the room.

  “Shepard I must warn you this man is wanted for a crime that he had committed in Asari space while on a mission” Samara tried her luck.

   “He is a part of this crew Samara, and I think he’s more than atoned for what he’s done by serving with me and helping take down Saren and now with the Collectors” Shepard explained. “He’s changed a great deal” Samara stood but lowered her weapon staring at Shepard with those cold blue eyes of hers.

   “Perhaps you are right. If he does anything that goes against the mission then I will exact swift justice.” She said with a slight bow of her head.

   “I’m more than sure it won’t come to that, but all right” Shepard said, I leaned back in the chair I was sitting in and gave her a look letting her know that if I didn’t love her as much as I did I would be wringing her human neck. All Shepard could do was shrug and smile.

 “I hope it does not. Thank you for bringing me along Shepard, I hope that I can be of some use” Samara said

   “Good to hear, so where would you like to bunk, the SR2 has a little more room than the old SR1 so I’m pretty sure we can find you some place.” Shepard said.

  “A place that looks out into the void if possible.” Samara replied

 “I will have Operative Taylor show her the Starboard Observation on deck two” EDI said as Jacob walked in.

  “Back earlier than I had expected. Welcome to the Normandy Samara, let me show you the Observation room” he said motioning for her to follow.

   When they had left I stood and walked over to Shepard. She looked up at me silently questioning what I had done to piss this one off. “I’ll tell you later. What about Thane?” I said.

    “I’m going there next. There are still a few things I have to take care of on the way; you want to come along for this one? Give Samara time to settle in and see that you’re not such a bad guy” she asked.

  “Who else is going to come with us?” I asked contemplating avoiding the Justicar or running around doing odd jobs and trying to convince an assassin to join our crew.

  “I was thinking of bringing Grunt”

 “Then I’ll take my chances with you then” I said

   “Good be ready in thirty minutes” she smiled up at me then walked off to get herself ready.

 

   To hope that some things would change would be to do so in vain. It had taken us most of the day to run around Illium, hack Liara’s terminals, help Shiala from the Zhou’s Hope colony that had trouble with the Thorian when we were there last, got us a small discount on some maps of some nearby clusters though; helped a random Asari shop clerk with her Krogan boyfriend, and more shopping for more little things which included a fish to start filling the empty tank in the cabin. Shepard was running on stims at this point as the sun began to set on another day on Illium and with the help of one of the dock workers we were on our way to finding Thane Krios from the dossier that the Illusive man had sent us. “You look like you need a nap Shepard” Grunt finally broke the silence that seemed to fill most of the trip to Dantius Towers.

  “I’ll be fine Grunt, don’t worry” Shepard said

  “I’m not worried; just don’t need you falling out while being shot at. As Mordin would say that would be….problematic.” he said. He was worried as much as I was about Shepard and her not having any sleep in between having Samara join us and now.

  “How about this Grunt, you worry about blowing off some mercenary heads and I’ll keep an eye on Shepard” I said making sure everything was in line with my weapons.

  “Yeah, I’ll do that” he said with a vicious grin at the thought of pounding in the heads of all and any that would get in our way of finding Thane.

   “I said I’ll be fine” Shepard grumbled as we parked. Seryna let us out after warning us about Nassana’s recent paranoia. Shepard surveyed the area as Seryna took the car and left. I surveyed the area hearing the faint sounds of gun fire and mechs.

  “Looks like we have trouble” I said taking a few shots at the mechs that were gunning down a couple of Salarian workers. At least one of them was lucky that we had come along when we did. He was hurt and hurt bad but still able to explain what Nassana was doing and that she was having the workers rounded up and killed. As he talked he began to go into shock, though with some quick thinking from Shepard the Salarian might actually survive to see his next contract. He explained a little more about the layout and asked us to keep a look out for other workers.

   “We’ll do our best” Shepard said helping the Salarian up and making sure he got away safely.  

 “That might be hard, Shepard.” I said as we made our way to a door that led into the building.

   “That just means plenty of head bashing” Grunt growled in excitement of the fight to come.

  “Let’s just stay focused and well come out on top” Shepard said as she pressed the button on the door. Almost immediately we had to take cover as a group of Eclipse mercs decided to roll out the welcome wagon.

  “Got one!” Grunt shouted moving from his cover to cover ahead of him.

   Shepard gave her order as we moved forward slowly and spread to make sure we weren’t flanked. Shepard focused on the mechs as Grunt and I took turns putting bullets into the heads of the mercs. We were granted a small break in between waves; Shepard applied medi-gel while I picked up some dropped thermal clips. Soon we encountered another wave of mercs as we moved forward. Twenty-four of these lowlifes; we had stopped at the bottom of the ramp that led up to the second level. “When we encountered Nassana before was she always this paranoid?” I asked pressing a few buttons on my Omni-tool.

   “Didn’t seem like it actually, just asked us to save her sister, and you knew how that turned out” Shepard said

  “Does it really matter; can’t we just say she’s crazy?” Grunt asked joining us after picking over a few thermal clips that some of the stragglers had dropped.

   “That works too” Shepard chuckled.

 “I could have told you both that she was nuts” I said walking ahead up the ramp to the next level. “How are we on Medi-gel?”

   “Might need to pilfer a few bodies” Shepard said checking her Omni-tool.

  “There is a med station, see what we get” I said motioning to the red case near the wall. Only one Medi-gel; we’ve been through worse I suppose. We took cover as the next set of mercs came at us as we pushed through the floor. It was a slow crawl as the mercs fell and we made our way to in front of the elevator. When we were finally granted a reprieve Shepard and Grunt went straight to looting the bodies of the dead mercs. Another medi-gel, some thermal clips, and I think there was a few credits that we were able to pocket. I bypassed a door near the elevator that had two of the Salarian workers in it. Daroth and Shellum were their names. Shepard talked to them while Grunt and weighed our chances that the elevator was a trap.

   “All right stay safe” Shepard told the two as they ran out the way we had come. “Turns out someone locked those two in there, more than likely to keep them out of harm’s way”

   “You think it could be our assassin?” I asked when she joined us at the elevator.

  “Maybe, sounds a bit strange though” she said she saw the wheels turning in my mind. “You come across him too?”

    “It was a good ten years ago, there was a file that passed through but never gained any head way. The men were killed and the man who did the killing was gone with no evidence.” I explained. “Nothing C-Sec or the Spectres could really do. The men he offed were not really the best in the galaxy.”

  “That really doesn’t help” she said

   “All the more to keep you guessing my dear” I said as Grunt and I took flanking positions on at the elevator while Shepard took cover behind a small wall in front of the elevator.

  “Right, be ready; Grunt hit the button” Shepard ordered ducking down getting ready to start firing.

    When the elevator door opened I stepped back and took cover next to Shepard as a Krogan battle master and a couple of heavy engineers came out of the door. Grunt saw this as an ample opportunity to try to test his skills; it did not go well. Thankfully Grunt was as big as the Battle Master or it would have been worse as they went head to head. Shepard and I worked on the engineers that had accompanied the Krogan. “Get the drone!” I called out trying to go between the Krogan and the engineers.

   “You want some clips first?!” Shepard snapped tossing me a few clips before tossing some over to Grunt and helping to take down the larger Krogan.

    I managed to make the scars on the side of my head more pronounced as I made the mistake of throwing a grenade at the Krogan as he fired at me holding Shepard up by the neck; Grunt trying to recover from a heavy hit from the larger Krogan nearby. “Come on Grunt” I grunted helping our Krogan to his feet hearing a point blank shot gun blast. Krogan blood and what appeared to be gray matter splattered on one of the pillars and the random bunker. Shepard fell with a hard thud to the floor, shot gun in hand covered in the Krogan’s blood.

    “Hahaha I knew I wasn’t going to be bored” Grunt bellowed walking over to help Shepard to her feet.

  “Yeah…yeuck!” Shepard shuttered surveying the damage and the Krogan that had a giant hole in his head. I smiled pilfering some small things from the dead Krogan.

   “What do you mean yeuck? That was damned good Shepard, pulling out your shot gun and giving him a mouth full of thermal clip! Couldn’t have done it better myself” Grunt gloated giving Shepard a pat on the back that almost knocked her off balance making her hit the floor again. “What is it with you humans, no balance”

   I watched leaning against the elevator as Shepard picked herself up and shot a glare at our young Krogan. “Are we ready to go you two?” I asked making sure the elevator was clear of everything once again. Shepard grumbled and Grunt chuckled stepping inside.

 

    The elevator ride was a little less than pleasant, and seemed to take an eternity to reach the next level. To make things worse Grunt made the ride even more unpleasant; asking about my run in with Samara, then to make matters worse the Krogan that came from the tank had to pass flatulence. Shepard being the only smart one among us apparently to wear a helmet; closed her visor down completely and began to giggle inside her helmet. The stench was unbearable I had to shut my eyes and try to plug me nose. “Seriously Grunt?” I asked looking over my shoulder at him

   “Heh heh sorry about that” he grinned, Shepard was about to bust a gut as the stench over took the small elevator. I checked my Omni-tool and the elevator read out to see if we were almost to our destination; it was getting just a bit too much to bear.  

   “Everything all right over there?” Joker asked over the radio

   “Grunt farted” Shepard said as the elevator dinged. We could all hear Joker laughing in the background as Shepard made sure to shut out the sound as the door opened to an unwitting Eclipse merc talking on his radio to his superiors.

    The surprising this was that he wasn’t tipped off by the slight stench coming from where the elevators were. Of course he was wearing a helmet as well. “What’s up buttercup?” Shepard said to get the merc to turn around only to be met by our weapons pointing at his head.

   “Well shit” he hissed at the sight of us ready to shoot him. After a brief conversation on how to get closer to Nassana, he was either very confident or very much an idiot. Giving us the option to let him go and he not tell the other mercs or he could have the others on our position within seconds. Shepard looked to Grunt and myself for some kind of input.

   “Just push him out the window” Grunt suggested “We can take whatever these guys can try to dish out”

  “Either way Shepard we’re in for a fight. In all honesty we just need the Assassin” I said crossing my arms. Even under her helmet I could see her weigh the options and our input.

   “Thanks for the information” she said before giving the mercenary a good shove shattering the window and watching him fall off the side of the building. “Let’s go, there will be more of a fight once we open those doors….?” She walked to the doors stopping just short as she stepped on a lone data pad. “What’s this?”

    “Looks like some kind of Salarian family tree” I said taking a quick look over her shoulder.

  “I heard a Salarian in Nos Astra talking about how he lost it, he might need this” Shepard said stowing it away in one of her many secret pockets hidden in her armor.

   “Can we go now?” Grunt said chomping at the bit at the doors.

   “Yeah, open the doors and get into cover, we don’t know what’ll be waiting for us exactly.” Shepard said as we joined him at the doors, Grunt opened the doors and we immediately headed for cover. The room was open and plenty of cover; we could also hear Nassana talking to the mercs. She didn’t sound pleased but that was not our problem, just the mercs. Grunt had taken point as the first merc decided to make itself known. It was a good thing Krogans were so resilient, especially since Okeer claimed that Grunt was a perfect Krogan. That was still yet to be seen, but he was good on the combat field.

     With a well-placed shot from my rifle we were able to take out a few of the mercs with the explosive containers that were nearby. Grunt and I drew fire from the mercs that stayed back so Shepard could loot spare ammo clips from the ones that had fallen, it was the best tactic since she was the smaller of the three of us and would be able to get the ammo unless one of the mercs decided to get smart, which there always was one. “Keep your heard down Shepard!” I called taking out the one that decided to try and take her out while looting one of his fallen friend. She flinched as the merc went down, drawing her weapon and joining in the fight once more to get rid of the remaining few that were left.

    “Well that was fun” Grunt said as Shepard began to patch him up.

  “We were damn lucky this time.” She said picking up her assault rifle and heading to the locked door near the wall.

    “Very lucky” I said taking stock of what we had left. “Try not to take so many hits next time Grunt; we’re running low on medi-gel. So unless that room as a med station, we’ll let you bleed until Chakwas can get a look at you”

    “Shepard won’t let you” he countered

   “Want to bet?” I said arching on the plates on my brow.

   “Shepard you wouldn’t let him do that? Shepard?” he said as we both looked to the door with Shepard with both her hands up. Grunt raised his weapon.

   “Weapon down guys!” Shepard hissed at us when we drew closer only to see a group of nervous Salarians huddled in the room. I latched my pistol back to its holster and glared at Grunt to do the same with his shot gun. He grumbled, but did as he was told. Shepard told the Salarian with the gun that we meant them no harm and that the mercs outside were dead. The poor Salarian with the gun had made himself so nervous he passed out letting his brother Chesith take over explaining things. He said that a merc had been threatening them when all of a sudden the merc’s head exploded and Telon took the gun from the dead merc.

    “But what about who did the shooting?” I asked “Did you see who it was?”

  “No, not really, next thing we knew the door shut and was locked from the outside” Chesith said.

   “Could it be The Assassin?” Shepard asked

   “Could be; won’t exactly know until we get a move on” I said.

  “Right. Thanks for the intel Chesith, the way out should be clear now” Shepard said to them.

    “Right, thank you, c’mon Telon”

  “Can we go home now?”

    “Yeah, let’s go”

     We watched them leave and made sure they were safely on the elevator before we began to regroup ourselves. Shepard found some medi-gel and some credits, I myself found a new sniper rifle near a terminal that had Nassana’s annoying voice coming from it asking for an update. Shepard took the opportunity to mess with the Asari’s head before the comm cut out and Shepard flashed Grunt and I a large grin. Grunt rolled his eyes making his way up the ramps as I gave Shepard a quick nuzzle against the side of her helmet, her smile grew bigger when I put my arm around her shoulders and we joined Grunt on the ramps that led to the roof leading to the adjacent tower. “Are you two sure we’ll be able to stop the Collectors?” Grunt asked when we finally caught up to him.

   “Yeah why?” Shepard asked when we both drew our weapons.

   “Yeah, Grunt, why?” I asked.

  “No reason, let’s get this Assassin Drell thing and go” he sighed and drew his shot gum. Shepard giggled and we all dove for cover as the next wave of seemingly unending mercs started again.

   Nassana was paranoid enough to pull out most of the stops when it came to trying to save her own skin; especially from her own sisters. I had thought she was crazy before but this was just insane. Commandos, Vanguards, Mechs, as well as regular troops, just more cannon fodder. Picking our targets we moved up when we had the openings and pushed forward. The only breather we were granted was when we took out the last Commando and rounded the corner that led to the bridge to the other tower where Nassana was holed up. “That bridge looks precarious at best” I said taking a quick look through the scope of my sniper rifle.

   “How precarious?”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Strong winds since we’re so high up, and it means that you can use what biotics you have to knock some mercs off the edge” I said not yet looking up from the scope.

  “Good enough definition for me, heh, heh, heh” Grunt said with a rather malicious grin.

   "Alright then let's get going since we're almost there" Shepard said standing up from the rubble she was leaning on. 

   We changed out thermal clips, made sure we had enough in reserves, turned on our ammunition mods, checked our armor one last time and then we began our final stretch across the bridge to the Penthouse. Shepard and Grunt worked on the Mercs that were brave enough to try to get close as I began to take out the security turrets near the top of the penthouse. "Firing a concussive shot!" Shepard called out as one of the mercs went flying off of the bridge. Grunt followed suit. The mercs were dropping like flies so to speak. there was plenty of cover even from the wind, with good places to push forward, dig in and have it with a sniper rifle. 

  We had finally made it to the doors where a lone Commando was waiting for us. She was not as easy to take out as the rest of her little group were. With some incendiary rounds and a few shots from mine and Shepard's heavy weapon she was down for the count. Shepard leaned against the wall next to the door; we were all a little worse for wear and would need to see Chakwas after this and maybe a hot shower. "This assassin guy better be worth all this trouble, or I'm gonna start busting some heads in" Grunt said when I dolled out the last dosage of what was left of our medi-gel.

   "Let's hope" Shepard said pushing herself off the wall.

  "I think after this we've all earned a bit more shore leave, don't you think?" I said rotating my should to try and adjust my armor. 

    "Two days shore leave for everyone" Shepard said as we checked our weapons one last time and entered the Penthouse. 

 

   When we entered we found Nassana waiting for us, her back turned, her mercs drawing their weapons. "Shepard?" she said turning to face us "I thought you were dead" 

   "I just got better" Shepard said with the slightest hint of humor in her voice. 

  Nassana did not seem amused at this as she went on about her sister. How this was some kind of cruel irony that she had sent us to kill her sister and now it was her turn. "Who sent you? Had to be someone wanting me gone enough to send you, and Spectre Kyrik" she said

   "No one sent us Nassana, we aren't even here for you; i guess you're just an added bonus with how you treated you workers" Shepard said remembering the Salarians we managed to save and some how the ones that we didn't get here in time for.  

  "What ever, they're paying you I will double it....what?!" Nassana yelled at one of her mercs when she suddenly became nervous. It was a wonder they didn't hear the noise before now. It seemed that our assassin was waiting in the shadows this whole time. dropping down the the grace and speed of a feline Thane managed to take out the three mercs surrounding Nassana then took out Nassana herself with a few point blank shots to her abdomen. 

  "Impressive" I commented quietly as he began to pray for some reason. Shepard started to speak, but I held a hand up to cut her short, this was what this particular Drell did apparently. We waited for him to finish before Shepard tried to speak again. 

  "I must thank you, with all the chaos you had caused, you provided quite the distraction." Thane said walking towards us. "I'm surprised at you Spectre Kyrik you could have called me out at anytime..." 

   "Really?" Shepard and Grunt managed at the same time. 

  "Didn't want to ruin your reputation Mr. Krios" I said crossing my arms. 

    Shepard opened her mouth to try and say something but instead stopped herself and tried to change the subject "I'm sure Cerberus told you what is going on and why we need you?" she asked. 

  "Yes. This is my chance to atone, to make the galaxy a brighter place before I depart this world" he said. 

  "What do you mean by that?" Shepard asked 

   "I'm dying." he replied.

  "From what might we ask?" 

   "You need not worry, it is not contagious. It is a disease that some of my people suffer from called Kelprals syndrome." he explained. "Don't worry my performance will not be affected, it is a slow spreading disease" 

  "Okay then. Welcome aboard the team Thane." Shepard said extending a hand. 

 "Thank you for giving me this opportunity" he replied taking Shepard's hand shaking it. 

    "Meet us on the Normandy for a quick debrief in an hour, then we're going to have a forty eight hour shore leave" Shepard instructed him and he left with Grunt. Shepard and I stood in the wake of the destruction that we had inadvertently caused. She let out a heavy sigh and slumped where she stood.

   "Everything all right?" I asked wrapping an arm around her giving her some support to lean on.

  "Just tired, that's all" she said taking off her helmet and wiping the sweat from her forehead, those dark brown strands sticking to her face.

  "Come on, let's get Thane settled and get leave started that way we can forget everything, even if it will only be for a few hours" i said nipping behind her ear making her squirm and giggle before she shoved me away running ahead of me.

  "Thirty minutes to get to the Normandy and there is thirty minutes we have to ourselves before debrief" she called back at me. I chased after letting her have the head start knowing I could catch up to her in no time. It was best to just let her have a few things so that I could enjoy her all the more when we did have those moments to ourselves. 

 

    Back on the Normandy we had lost track of time and were late to the debrief where Jacob sat with Thane glaring at the Drell. He made sure to make his distrust for Thane known saying he was a highly trained and precise mercenary. He wasn't wrong, even when Shepard had explained that Thane was not in this for the money. Jacob shook his head and left the room, as I said he wasn't wrong, but Thane did seem different from other assassins I've come across. When he asked for his particular bunking arrangments EDI popped in suggesting the Life Support room with it being the driest area on the ship. He thanked us and headed for the elevator. He seemed nice enough, Jacob would have to ultimately deal with it. "EDI send out a ship wide shore leave notice. Forty eight hours then its back to work" Shepard said leaning her head on my chest.

   "Yes, Commander" EDI said and was gone once again.

  "We have a lot to do when shore leave is over" Shepard said slightly muffled by our difference in height. "Liara, Hackett, and a whole lot of other things"

  "Agreed, though Hackett is a surprise I will admit. For now let's just enjoy the moment we have to breathe and find a private place away from Joker and all prying eyes and all cares and worries and relax, shall we?" I said wrapping my arms around her swaying slightly.

   "Sounds like a good idea, hell that's the best one I've heard all week" she said looking up with a tired smile. 

  "Good, now c'mon, let's get our things and leave the galaxy behind for a while" i said leading her out of the briefing room and to the elevator to our cabin. I was determined to make sure these next forty eight hours were going to be nothing but us, spirits help me, and if anyone or thing tries to stop us, they would wish it was just the Reapers they had to worry about. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for reading i hope you enjoyed this latest chapter. it really means a lot that there are people that enjoy my work, it means a lot to me. again thank you all for reading you all are the best :D
> 
> on to work on the net chapter, see you all again soon :D


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shore leave on Illium and the beginning of Arrival, and also avoiding the Illusive man some how. some little bits from Shep's POV; as usual though from Nihlus's POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here it is ladies and gents the next chapter. i know i'm veering off a little but in writing i get to run a circle around the Illusive man and his shenanigans. anyway please read and enjoy! <3 
> 
> i just write the fan fiction i don't own anything really.

   Shepard and I spent the majority of our leave in the private hotel Liara had suggested when we had first arrived on Illium. We spent most of the time ‘catching up’ sprawled out on the giant bed between sleep and love making. It felt good for even a little while to forget the Cerberus, the Collectors, the Reapers, the galaxy and just about everything. Just being able to lay with Shepard and be lazy for once in our busy lives. Shepard was cuddled under my arm sleeping peacefully, for some reason I thought she might have been drooling she was so deep in her sleep.

    With her asleep it had given me time to think about when all of this was over. She would have to go to Earth regardless of her Spectre status and face trial. I wouldn’t be able to stop her; though all of the charges were silly and the evidence at best were shoddy rumors. If we would be able to marry after all of this, how would that go about? A human/Turian wedding ceremony; not to mention if we wanted children; I took a deep breath and shook the thoughts from my mind when I heard and felt her begin to stir under my arm. “Mmmmm” she groaned lifting an arm and placing her hand on my face. She was awake, at least enough to know what she was doing.

   “Sleep well?” I asked taking her wrist and moving her hand from my face.

  “Better than I had in a long time” she sat up giving me a kiss.

  “That’s good, I’m glad” I said running my talons through her hair letting out a slight purr touching our foreheads.

   “What did you do?” she asked looking at me through half closed eyes.

  “What do you mean?”

 “You hacked my personal messages didn’t you?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Nihlus.”

    “Miranda seems adamant about talking to you and you only about something, and Jacob also needs to speak with you Not to mention Liara, and a priority message from Admiral Hackett.” I said finally leaning back against the head board.

   “Why do you do that?” she asked tilting her head at me.

  “I worry, and wouldn’t you want me going through them instead of Miranda and Chambers?” I said

  “I suppose, but still.” She settled in beside me.

   “Just breathe Amalia, we’ll get to them and we’ll get it all done. Garrus, Tali, and I, we all have faith in you” I said

  “I know, it just feels like the time table gets shorter and shorter” she said

  “You’ll think of something” I said holding her hand.

  “You know I don’t know how long I’ll be on Earth right?”

  “You know you’re also a Spectre”

  “I’m going through with this Nihlus. After the Collectors it’ll be the right thing to do I guess”

  “The right thing in the first place was not to sweep any of this under the rug. Though as usual it has to be on everyone’s front door” I said, the very thought making me angry.

   “We’ll get through, we always do. May be Anderson can get you passes to Earth during my trial and all that, I mean he is on the Council after all” she suggested trying to help me see some kind of bright side to all of this.

   “Let’s hope your Earth government will listen then” I said “We have six hours left on our leave, are you wanting to do anything other than sit in bed for the rest of the time?”

   “Do you want me to read to you for a while? I think if we do anything else we might be late getting back to the Normandy” she suggested with a small smile.

  “Read?”

  “Yeah”

  “How did I get so lucky to have found you?”

  “You’re a glutton for punishment?”

   “Just read woman” I said letting her go to her duffle bag and pull out one of those old books she found on the Citadel two years ago. I recognized the binding as being one of those by the Earth author J.R.R. Tolkien. She settled in next time me and opened the book to the marked page where she left off before setting it on the shelf back in our old apartment on the Citadel before going out on that mission. It felt as if those two empty years hadn’t happened at all when she began to read from the old book. The current story we had been on was one of an elf and a human. It was different in a way that it sounded happier than most of the other tales yet with that same level of dark and adventure.

 

   When we had gotten back to the Normandy we found Tali scolding Grunt for some reason, Garrus and Kasumi watching the spectacle. “Did you learn nothing from the last three fish you ate?!” Tali exclaimed at the Krogan.

   “I just bought that fish yesterday” Shepard whined when we joined Garrus and Kasumi.

  “Happened just before you two got here, we did warn him, but he did it anyway the little scamp” Garrus joked. The galaxy must really be ending if this particular Turian was cracking jokes; either that or he was spending too much time with Joker and I was the one who sat on the bridge.

  “I’m not little and I’m not a scamp…what’s a scamp anyway?” Grunt said as we went to our stations.

  “So, where to first Commander?” Joker asked over the com when I sat down.

  “Let’s scan for some resources for a while I’ve got a message from Hackett to view real quick. I’ll be in my cabin” Shepard said heading to the elevator.

   “A message from Hackett? What does he want?” Joker asked me

  “Not sure, Hackett was never one for details, from my experience anyway” I said flipping through some screens to the camera that looked over Shepard’s desk in the Captain’s cabin. We could see Hackett’s face on the larger screen that made the display case for Shepard’s models.

  “Do you think that Shepard might be taking on a little more than she can handle?” Joker asked out of the blue as Shepard finished her conversation with Hackett and we cut the feed into the cabin.

   “What brought this on?” I had to ask even though I knew he was right; if we weren’t careful Shepard might kill herself before we’re even able to give the universe a fighting chance against the Reapers.

   “I dunno, maybe I’m just paranoid. So when you and the Commander do tie the knot, can I be bet man?” he said swiping through his screens.

  I sighed and shook my head, I genuinely had no idea what a best man is but told him yes despite that fact. “You know I have no idea what that is?”

  “Yeah, but at least you said it was ok that way the Commander can’t protest” he said with a mischievous grin.

  “Nihlus can you meet me in the hold?” Shepard asked over our private feed.

  “Taking a break, Joker, you EDI have fun” I said getting up and making my way to the elevator to meet Shepard.

  “Yeah, yeah” Joker grumbled.

 

     Down in the hold Shepard stood over her armor and her weapons. She did not seem to be her usual gun-ho _let’s save the universe_ self. Something was definitely bothering her. “I have to go on this mission alone” she said.

  “I heard Hackett and most of what he briefed you on” I said standing across from her at the weapons table. “I also heard something about Reaper tech”

  “Yeah and there will be Bartarians.”  She said her mood continuing on its downward spiral.

  “Something else is bothering you” I know her well enough by now to see when something nagged at the back of her mind.

  “The fact that I have to go in by myself, not to mention the Reaper technology, I’m pretty much going in blind and we have a dozen other things to, making sure everyone’s head is in the game everything else that is going on and practically going wrong!” She said exasperated and exhausted. “Why can’t anything ever be easy?”

   “Anything worth fighting for is never easy Amalia. It takes every ounce of my self-control not to take the Normandy and just go through the Omega-4 myself, to hell with all the prep, might as well take as many with us right? But this isn’t my mission, it’s yours, I’m just along for the ride and to make sure you don’t die on me again” I said walking over to her side. “We also wouldn’t be the people we are today I suppose” she looked at me with those brown eyes; so much love for all things and the tiniest bit of wonder still lingered there in the midst of the raging hate and sadness against the Reapers and the Collectors for what was happening to the universe.

   “…I hate you” she mumbled hugging me.

  “Because I’m right? Hahahaha, we can do this Shepard. I know you’ll think of something.” I said placing a hand on her head lightly running my talons along her scalp.

   “Joker set a course for the Viper Nebula, Bahak system” Shepard said looking up smiling at me.

  “Aye Commander.” Joker said quickly.

  “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone from the ship, I need you guys to stay relatively close just in case something happens and I need a quick exit with Dr. Kenson” she giving me a small kiss on my mandible before going back to her preparations.

   “We’ll scan for resources on the neighboring planets and make what upgrades we can, don’t worry.” I told her reassuringly. She nodded and clasped the pieces of her armor in place. She was rather proud of the silver armor with the red winged creature on it that she had chosen for this mission. It was of a team back on Earth called the Blood Dragons or something like that. I noticed on the opposite shoulder she had etched my face markings into the pauldron. “I don’t have to do anything crazy when for your parents will I?”

   “What do you mean?” she asked pulling her hair up into a small bun. Then finally it donned on her and she laughed “Yeah, Nihlus, three cows and five goats should do the trick to convince mom and dad to let you have me as your life partner”

   “You’re not serious are you” half of me knew she was kidding but there was still that feeling that she might not be also the fact I still didn’t know what a cow or a goat was.

   “No. Just ask I guess, shouldn’t be that hard. Mom likes you and dad seems to respect you and like you enough. Why worry about it?”  She said holding her helmet under her right arm.

  “Nerves.”

  “The great Spectre Nihlus Kyrik is nervous? The universe must really be ending” she chuckled.

  “You do realize how this can affect both sides politically? Not to mention we’re both Spectres and…” she cut me off with a kiss the placed the helmet on her head securing it.

   “Stop acting like a juvenile” I could hear her smile from behind the helmet.

  “You’re one to talk” I grumbled, she was right in some way I was being rather ridiculous.

 “See you in a few days and then back to business” she said crossing to the KODIAK and entering it. I made my way to the elevator and made my way to engineering where Tali stood watching. The all clear was given as we cleared the Relay and the KODIAK left the Normandy for Aratoht.

  “I have a bad feeling about this” Tali said lowly.

  “You and me both” I said watching the shuttle leave.

 

             /      /      /      /

 

    I hated leaving them alone, I knew they would be able to take care of themselves but something nagged at me telling me I should have at least taken Nihlus with me. Just to the planet to help me calm my nerves about this whole mission from Hackett. Some days I really didn’t like that old codger but the doctor is a friend of his and he was keeping the majority of the Alliance fleet off our backs as we tried to find a way to stop the collectors. I guess it was the least I could do before being hauled off for tribunal. Maybe this would work in my favor and I wouldn’t get court marshalled right out of the Alliance. True I was still a Spectre and I always had that to fall back on, but the Alliance was most of my life before being the first human Spectre in the grand history of everything.

    Part of me wished to be back in that hotel on Illium, Nihlus and I wrapped in the cool covers just wasting the day away in each other’s arms, with the heavy skin weave Cerberus had managed to upgrade me with the irritation from his bony plates didn’t bother me as much as they used to. His talons just lazily trailing up and down my said and in my scalp, the memory felt nice and eased my mind ever so little as the shuttle touched down and the door opened for me to exit. This was a covert mission, no back up no nothing, just me and my own skills as a soldier.

  Here goes nothing.

 

        /        /        /        /

 

     “Are you sure you should just let her go by herself? Maybe you should have gone with her, to hell with Admiral Hackett” Tali persisted as we made our way to the main battery, Garrus had wanted to discuss something with Shepard, but I would have to suffice for now.

    “I understand your concern Tali, but Shepard insisted on doing this as instructed by the Admiral.” I explained at the door.

  “Tali’Zorah you’re needed back to engineering” EDI popped up from her console.

  “Can it wait?”

   “I am afraid not Tali’Zorah”

  “Fine. We’ll continue this later Nihlus” she said leave Garrus and I.

   “What’s up Nihlus?” Garrus asked

   “You needed to talk to Shepard about Sidonis?” I said looking at the data pad

  “Yeah, but she’s off on something for Hackett, right? I’ll talk to her when she gets back” he said a bit nervous.

   “Garrus.”

  “Nihlus, this is something that I’ve talked to Shepard about, and I would feel better if she made the final decision. No offense” he said.

  “Sidonis is on the Citadel. Even if you do talk to Shepard, I know she will say yes, either way you’ll get your quarry. Here.” I set the data pad down next to his work station. “Keep tabs on him from here, Shepard said she’d be gone about three days at the least so there is no telling when we’ll actually get to the Citadel to go after him, but we will.”

    “Thanks Nihlus.” He said as I left pulling out a second data pad I noticed the Illusive Man had things he needed doing. He would have to wait of course, and I headed to the elevator and went back to the bridge.

   “Don’t feel bad Nihlus, not many people like talking to me either” Joker said when I finally sat in the co-pilot’s seat. “And I’m human”

  “I’m worried about Shepard. Most of the crew is also”

  “Well yeah going in solo on a mission for Admiral Hackett and the impending suicide mission to stop the Collector’s, I’d be worried too” he said

  “And you’re not?”

   “I’m terrified. Scared out of my wits, we all are, maybe not you because you’re a big bad Spectre and all but it’s pretty scary Nihlus.” He explained. I nodded and focused on my screens as we began scanning a nearby planet for resources.

 

         /        /        /

 

     And here I wanted a Varren for a pet. The underground where was dropped off was almost crawling with them, not to mention all sorts of other things to worry about. Though fairly easy to navigate it still took me longer than I had hoped to get through that maze and up to the main levels of the outpost where Dr. Kenson was being held by the Bartarians. Compared to the impending doom we all faced in going after the Collector’s this search and rescue was almost like a breath of fresh air until you remember that there might be reaper tech involved then it’s back to reality.

     The little voice in the back of my mind kept nagging at me that I should have brought Nihlus, should have gone against Hackett in making this a solo mission and brought a team member. Though after this the Illusive man insists that he may have something that we can go on in going after the Collectors. Hopefully it won’t be another wild ride like Horizon. I sometimes wished I knew his location or that Miranda did in some way that way if he fucks us over I can go and tear out those creepy blue eyes of his and feed them to him. For now he remained the mysterious benefactor that funded this entire mission and not much else for that matter.

    This whole thing was making me nervous. So far there had only been a handful of Bartarians. A few well-placed sniper bullets and some quick shots made quick work of them as I made my way closer to where the doctor was being held. I had to wonder why all of this was so complicated just for one doctor and her small team of researchers. Hopefully Dr. Kenson would have some answers to most of this and why they were caught. “How are you progressing?” Nihlus’s voice crackled over our private channel inside my helmet. After dispatching a couple more Bartarians his voice was a welcome distraction.

   “So far, smoothly; Dr. Kenson should be back to her research in a few hours.” I explained to him feeling the most hopeful I had been in what seemed like forever. “How is everyone?”

   “You know they’d rather talk to you of course”

   “Of course”

    “Also the Illusive man has something urgent he wants to go over with you when you get back. I’m afraid we won’t have much time for a nap.” He explained in his cool Turian tones. I really wished that we were back on Illium and I was staring into those emeralds he had for eyes.

   “Again, of course; just have Rupert save me a slice of that Key Lime pie he said he was going to make” I said with a smile.

   “Is it a Turian friendly sweet?”

   “No, sorry big guy”

    He laughed slightly before saying he loved me and that I should get back to business. “Check in when you and Dr. Kenson are clear”

   “I love you too and I will be sure to” and with that the channel had gone dead and it was back to the deafening silence as I continued to my way through the compound. I cringed at the sound of the heavy machinery as I had to move it here and there in order to find a way to progress. There was still that nagging voice at the back of my head that I should have brought Nihlus along, and that this whole thing was a bad idea to be going in alone. “My life is like a fart” I whispered to myself dropping down to a lower level of the compound. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too much longer before I had Dr. Kenson and we were on our way out of here.

 

       /          /          /

 

   “You seem to be in a better mood” Joker commented as I sat back down in the co-pilot’s seat.

  “Not really, still feel like I should be down there with her” I said reading through data pads. Going through Spectre reports and budgets, along with what we have going on here on the Normandy.

  “Then why aren’t you?”

“Hackett”

   “Right, take it you don’t like him too much?”

 “It isn’t that I don’t like him I’m fine with humans, look at me I’m planning on marrying one” I said still reading some of Shepard’s messages.

    “…wait…so you are planning on marrying the Commander?”

  “That doesn’t leave this cockpit or I will make sure you spend a month in the med-bay; to hell with the reapers” I said glaring at him.

  “Hey no problem man you got my vote hahahaha. So what about what’s going on with the Illusive man?” he said

  “No rest for the wicked apparently” I said making sure it was the top of the list for when Shepard got back after Dr. Kenson. I knew the Illusive man could be a pain in the ass, but this was pushing it. I bit my tongue; if Shepard could keep it in check to see this mission through then so could I. It was considerably more difficult with her gone, but I could be civil.

   “Well, that’s good to know” Joker said purchasing a few more probes from a nearby depot.

  We were running low on funds; our stores were fine for another month or two but not being funded in anyway was making this mission difficult. Hopefully Shepard would be able to wrangle some Alliance funds from this whole favor from Hackett, until then we would do for the time being. We made our way back to a neighboring system in the nebula for more resources.  This was going to be a long three days. 

%MCEPASTEBIN%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woo! another down! i know i veered off course a little but we'll get back on track soon enough. i hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter and i will see you all next time i the next chapter. thank you all for being such good readers and being patient with me :) 
> 
> Eta on next chapter: it might be a while before the next chapter is up everyone. I lost a very dear friend recently to a car accident and it had hit everyone especially me quite hard. Until then I'm taking it one sentence at a time until it's done. Should be soon though, I am still working on it. Thank you everyone! 
> 
> First thank you all for baring with me. With my friend passing and my net acting up it had been a ride. But as soon as the net is back up I will update within the next week, I'll use my best girl's computer if I have to. But an update will be soon, again thank you all for being so patient and all other kinds of stuff :)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard continues her attempt to stop object Rho and Dr. Kenson. Her attempt to try to warn the Bartarian colonists turned out to be in vain. after the Normandy heads out to check on a lead on the Collector ship from the Illusive man. 
> 
> told from Nihlus's POV for the most part, and some of Shepard's POV during parts of the 'Arrival' mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello all! here is the next chapter. i am sorry it took so long but lately real life has gotten a little out of hand but here it is :) i hope you enjoy. and thank you all again for reading and putting up with my irregular updates ^.^;;

Half a day had passed since I had checked in with Shepard last; I had broken three screens on three different data pads before she finally checked in of her own accord. “I’ve got Dr. Kenson, we’re going to check out this Reaper tech that she and her team had found” she explained.

“Uh yeah Commander if you could like hurry it up though, Nihlus is going through data pads like…well yeah I’ll stop it there” Joker started to say before I glared at him. “Just don’t take too much longer ok”

“Maybe if I get done early we can have a few off duty hours of rest?” she held back a laugh.

“The Illusive man is adamant that he talk to you” I said shaking my head and getting back to the tasks at hand. “From what I’ve been able to get it does involve the Collectors. My contacts don’t have much more than that; our more than shady benefactor has been extremely tight lipped even to Lawson”

“That’s nice. All right, I’ll radio when I’m ready to be picked up” Shepard said I could hear the edge in her voice and switched over to or private channel.

“Is everything all right Shepard?” I asked standing and walked back to the elevator.

“Something is wrong here Nihlus I can feel it. Damnit I should have brought you along with me, damn Hackett” she hissed, I gathered she wasn’t all together alone.

“Any idea what it could be?”

“I can’t say for sure yet…just start making your way to my coordinates” she said “I’ll try to radio later when I know more”

“We’re on our way.” I said as the line cut. I reached our cabin and sat at the small desk the two of us somehow managed to use. “EDI”

“Yes, Spectre Kyrik?”

“Were able to get anything more from what the Illusive man deems as urgent?”

“Unfortunately not, Joker and I have exhausted most of your channels in trying to find insight” she explained.

I stared at the model ships that Shepard had been so fond of lately. “Thank you EDI”

“Certainly” the blue hologram that held the AI pulsed before disappearing into the console once again. We were at least two systems away at the current moment when the Normandy began to turn and head toward the star system’s edge. Something was wrong that was for sure, but until we could get to Shepard she would have to find a way; I hoped with the Cerberus upgrades to the ship that we were faster than before. One could only hope.

 

/            /             /

 

The Reaper artifact that Dr. Kenson and her crew had found was massive and was giving off a familiar energy, object Rho they called it. I remembered the counter when we first came to the asteroid headed to the relay at a snail’s pace at the moment. I knew something was wrong with the she had talked; I was just sorry I didn’t recognize this line of talk sooner. Dr. Kenson was indoctrinated almost like what Sovereign had done to Saren with fewer implants to the brain. My only option was to try to get Dr. Kenson to continue her original mission on driving this asteroid into the relay so the Reapers couldn’t get through. True lives would be lost, but if I could just get out a message, maybe there might be a chance to save people; even if they were Bartarians. No, I had to stop that line of thinking, the Bartarians in danger were not the ones who ambushed Elysium, they weren’t them and I would not treat them the same.

“We have to continue the mission doc, get a message out to the Bartarians, there is still time and we can save a lot of lives.” I tried to plead with the doctor about what could happen and what the consequences would be if she let the Reapers come through when the clock ran out.  Evidently the doctor wasn’t having it, she was almost gone and nothing and no-one was about to stop her. 

I wondered if just going back to the Citadel would be a better option than going back to the Alliance after all of this. If Hackett wasn’t an Admiral and doing so much to keep us out of the court martial tribunal I would knock him so far into next Tuesday he’d be working to get Wednesday out of his ass. It was clear that the doctor had no intent anymore to finish her mission though the asteroid was already on course to the relay. I drew my vindicator and started an attempt to either destroy the Reaper artifact or stop Dr. Kenson and her team. Outnumbered and backed into a corner I began to fight for my life. There were more of them and only one of me as I kept the fire flowing, switching from weapon to weapon trying to keep in cover and hopefully thin out this onslaught.

Out of ammo, and flying into a battle rage melee was my only hope. I didn’t last much longer after that. Everything around me had gone black, the pain unbearable. It wasn’t like being spaced where you suffocate in the vacuum of space or the intense numbing burn of falling into a planet’s atmosphere. Though it was a familiar pain of bullets on the battle field, this wasn’t Elysium and I could feel failure settling in. “…Nihlus” was the last thing I could hear myself say as I finally hit the floor and the smoke began to settle.

“Patch her up; I want to make sure she is able to see the arrival” Dr. Kenson said before silence took over.

 

/            /            /

 

Sitting in the mess reading over data pads from almost everyone I had begun to fall asleep when a strange yet familiar feeling of dread came over me. We were still two days out from where Shepard was with Dr. Kenson going over the Reaper artifact. “What’s wrong with you?” Grunt asked. He must have seen the expression on my face.

“Nothing, nothing Grunt, ahem, is there something you need?”

“Yeah, when are we going to Tuchanka?” he asked. He was still restless of course. The only way to find out what was wrong with him we would have to make our way to the Krogan homework.

“When Shepard gets back and after we see what the Illusive man wants” I said pinching the bridge of my nose.

“Good, I’m ready to be done with this and bash in some Collector skulls” he said pounding his fists together then finally leaving me to this sudden pull at my innards.

“Joker, ETA” I said over the comm

“Still a ways out Nihlus”

“Let me know as soon as we’re there”

“Aye, aye”

“Not easy being XO is it” that annoying accented voice of Lawson said sitting down across from me. “Will we even have time for anything when Shepard comes back?”

“As I told Grunt and everyone else on this vessel, yes Lawson we will. Do you have something else you want to discuss or might you leave me be?” I asked narrowing my eyes at the human biotic.

“I know what Shepard did when you came aboard Spectre; you could sort of say that I knew it would happen. But what I don’t understand is why?” she said

“What do you mean why?”

“Why are you really here, because of the Council or something else?”

With being a Spectre you didn’t have a lot of room for hate, since you were the left hand of the Council the represented dozens of races, and with having an indifference to humans it was easy to fall for Shepard; but this human was starting to actually hate. “Look Lawson, I’m not doing this for the council, I’m doing this because and for Shepard. I was there on Eden Prime; I was there through it all and at the battle of the Citadel. It was a hell of a fight and I know what coming even if the Council and the other races want to sweep it under the rug so to speak.” I explained my patience growing thin. She stared at me for a few long scrutinizing moments.

“The Illusive man doesn’t know you’re here officially, and I’ll make sure it stays that way.” She said as she stood and left for her quarters. That human was definitely hard to read. One minute she’s a cold hearted bitch the next she did things out of the blue.

Shaking my head I stood gathering the data pads and made my way to the elevator and up to the cabin. Tossing the data pads on the small coffee table a flopped on the couch rubbing my neck. I pondered on the feeling that struck me all of a sudden and still nagged at me even in this relaxed setting at the moment. Then it hit me. “Joker!”

“Yeah?”

“Can this thing go any faster?” I shot up and made my way to the elevator punching the button for the CIC.

“Uh…why?” he asked as I marched up to the bridge not waiting for the door on the elevator to open all the way.

“Shepard’s in trouble we need to hurry” I said

“Nihlus we are going as fast as we can. There is not much more I can put into the drive output to make the Normandy go any faster, even with the upgrades” Tali’s voice came over the com.

“Tali’Zorah is correct Nihlus, even so Shepard would have sent out a distress signal” EDI said.

“We’ll get there Nihlus, even if Shepard is in trouble, hopefully she is making just as much trouble as she’s in” Joker said flipping through some of his screens “She’ll give them hell whatever is going on”

I sat down in the co-pilot’s seat and watched the warp fields as they passed by. I was determined not to lose her again.

 

Object Rho; Reaper tech. “ _Your death is imminent, we are your kind’s salvation”_

“Bullshit” I groaned coming to in a small medical room, déjà vu was hitting like a truck although this wasn’t Wilson or Miranda, only indoctrinated puppets.

“Oh shit! She is waking up!”

“That was enough sedative to take down a bull Krogan!”

“Take her down!” the scientist called running out of the med lab. It was one thing to wake up in a Cerberus lab, but this only made me angry. After knocking out the two guards I started to make my way out only to be stopped by a barrier at the door protecting the scientist from my righteous fists of fury. Of all that has been going on and I’ve been through these past few hours I deserve to be a bit silly.

“You know you can’t hold me here long right?” I said trying to put her off. I was angry and they knew it they just don’t realize how I can get around most things.

“We can keep you there long enough” she said trying to monitor other readings and screens from her end. I rolled my eyes leaning against the barrier. This was a new predicament. I don’t know how long I was out or if I even would make any kind of difference in stopping Dr. Kenson and Object Rho.

Tinkering with some things on a console I listened to a research log and found a way to access a mech on the outside. _This should be fun,_ I thought to myself. Activating the mech I managed to dispatch the scientist and the couple of other LOKI mechs that had been with her guarding the med lab. Now for that barrier. Self-destructing the LOKI mech turned out to be a good way to bring down the barrier. Now the whole base knew that I was up and on my way out. After grabbing a few things and jacking some of credits lying around, I got my armor and weapons situated and headed out. Noticing the countdown clock; I had been out for a while. There was only about an hour and a half to get this this back on track and try to make something good come of all this. Time to get going.

Securing my helmet I headed out, two doors; one locked the other open. I recorded the research log to listen to later and headed back out and bypassed the door on the other side, I would have to hurry, not much time to do anything. It wasn’t hard to take out the numb skulls, though Dr. Kenson had to make it more difficult. There was still at least three or four rooms ahead of my before getting to the Project Control room where I could do anything to try to help. I checked my Omni-Tool, time was ticking and it was trickling down fast.  “Freaking hell, how far did those guys go out for resources?” I asked myself checking my clips making my way through the rooms and through any guards that were unfortunate enough to get in my way.

There was still enough time left when I finally reached the Project Control room and took out the guards. At the console I activated the engines. The VI gave a warning about what will happen. There were only two choices, check on the Normandy or warn the colony. Nihlus was with everyone on the Normandy and hopefully should be here before the asteroid hit the relay. If I warned the colony then I wouldn’t have time to get a signal out to Nihlus and Joker. Not much time was left; I would be cutting it close whatever I decided to do. Bartarians were scum in most cases; my conscious wouldn’t let me leave without trying to warn them first. “Attention Colonists!.....?!?!” what was that damn woman up to now? The explosion buffered off of my kinetic barriers knocking me off balance.

“Thanks to Shepard I have no choice. I’ll destroy this asteroid if we cannot bring about the Reapers” Dr. Kenson said over the PA system before cutting out.

“Where is she?”

“Dr. Kenson is on her way to Reactor Core of the base.”

“Thanks”   this was going to be fun. I checked the time on my Omni-tool as two more guards rushed in. there was still time to stop the invasion and I wasn’t going to waste it on these guys. Dr. Kenson needed to be stopped and we didn’t need the Reapers here to muck all that up.

 

/            /             /

 

It had taken us long enough to get to the asteroid research station where Shepard’s signal was coming from. The asteroid was on a head on collision with the Mass Relay. “Christ!” Joker swore as we tried to enter the atmosphere of the asteroid.

“What the hell was going on here? Did Shepard piss someone off?” Tali asked bracing herself as we made it through.

“She must have. All the fire power is concentrated our one woman wrecking crew” Garrus said of the com from the forward battery.

“Shepard can you read me?” I asked trying to get through to her helmet radio

“Loud and clear big sexy! Ready for pick up as soon as you guys can managed! Oh shit!” Shepard replied

“There!” Tali pointed out the view ports to an armored figure running then getting stopped by a rather large contingency of mechs and troops.

“Hurry!” she called as she tried to take out as many of the troops as she could while still running to the landing pad.

“Better get your ass moving then” I said.

“Great now you’re funny, who are you and what have you done with Nihlus!?”

_Still right here but not for long if you don’t hurry your ass up,_ I thought to myself as Joker maneuvered the Normandy around a large projection of what looked like a collector officer that had stopped Shepard momentarily.

“Got her! Now let’s get the bloody fucking hell out of here!” Zaeed called over the com from down in the hold. “Jack and I will get her up to Chakwas…”

“Just get this bird moving already!” Jack called.

“Hold on!” Joker had EDI punch it and we were on our way out and away of this system.

I had never seen a Mass Relay destroyed, never heard of one being destroyed for that matter since they had been around since the Protheans. The result was catastrophic, it was almost as if a star had gone supernova. Not only was the mass relay destroyed and the reapers stopped from coming through but most of the neighboring planet had been destroyed with it. The sacrifice of millions to save the countless trillions of people that still lived in the galaxy. My mandibles clicked watching the destruction and reading the reports that started to flow in from all the different channels. “There is a message for you Spectre Kyrik” Chambers called from her post near the galaxy map.

“Thank you Chambers…”

“Let me guess, Admiral Hackett?” Joker asked

“None other. Head to this location. Apparently he wants to check in personally with Shepard for a debrief.” I said giving Joker the coordinates.

“Oh goodie!” Joker feigned in his famous sarcasm.

 

When Hackett finally arrived Shepard and I sat in the med bay waiting for him. With being a Spectre the punishment shouldn’t be so severe, I could be wrong though. Letting a village here or there go in order to complete the mission at all costs and make sure the galaxy was save was one thing but an entire planet would be a different issue since the Bartarians would be petitioning for her head on a platter. Hackett wasn’t much of a welcome sight either. “Well this can hardly be good” Chakwas commented as she left the med bay.

“Admiral Hackett…” Shepard stood and saluted like the good soldier she is. She gave him the rundown of what had happened. He wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t mad either. He was one of the few humans I was not able to read very well, always with that hard blue stare and stoic features.

“Nihlus, could you give us a moment?” he asked

“No. You guys debrief here. After you leave we’ve got work to do.” I replied sitting down in Chakwas’s seat at her desk. There was that cold stare, but he didn’t protest.

“I will face whatever trials I have to Admiral that I promise, but I just stopped Reapers from arriving before we’re ready and the Collectors have to be stopped.” Shepard said still standing.

“I know Shepard, don’t worry. As soon as this is over you turn yourself over to the Alliance. Until then just keep doing what you’re doing” Hackett said with a quick salute and a sharp turn on his heel.

“Yes sir!” she returned the salute before leaning back on the medical table. “Let me guess, Illusive Man?”

“Kept him on hold for about three days, he isn’t a happy camper by now” I smiled to myself leaning back in the seat.

“What does he want now?”

“Something about a Collector ship. Lawson cut me off before I could get any more information.

“The great Spectre Nihlus Kyrik bested by a Cerberus operative in the great information game? The world really must be ending” she said with a small smile walking over and leaning down to kiss the side of my right mandible.

“I’m more than sure it is” I said as she walked out and made her way to see what the illusive man wanted.

“I really wish you would encourage her to sleep a little more often than just every few days or so. It really is taking a toll on her health” Chakwas told me what for when she came back into the med-bay.

“I will. After this next mission I’ll make sure to confine her to her quarters” I said standing and walking out.

 

Later we found ourselves staring down the Collector ship that The Illusive man said a group of Turians had disabled. Something was wrong, that was for certain. If the first Normandy couldn’t withstand an attack from one of these ships, what made the Turians think that they would be able to? “Something doesn’t feel right here” I said slicing through screens quickly hoping to find something.

“Have EDI and Joker keep looking into it while we go in. Samara, meet Nihlus and I at the shuttle” Shepard said patting my shoulder before turning towards the elevator. “We head out in thirty minutes”

“Yes, Commander” Samara replied over the com.

“Right behind you Shepard.” I said standing and following Shepard.

“What exactly should we be looking for though?” Joker asked

“Anything that doesn’t seem like it would have been Turian, scan the outside and scan the inside. I’m not holding you hand Joker” I replied as the elevator door closed.

“This can’t end well if you have a bad feeling about this” Shepard said as the elevator began to move.

“Something just doesn’t seem right about this Shepard. I don’t trust the Illusive Man on this. Hell I don’t trust him with a lot of things, and with Lawson blocking my attempt to get anything more from him did not help.” I said

“I understand, but let’s just see what we can find out once we get on the ship” she said. She was tired, I didn’t blame her.

 

Samara was waiting for us in the hold going over our weapons with Zaeed and Tali. “Shepard can you please get rid of this old Avenger, there isn’t much more I can do to keep it running like it did four years ago” Tali said once she saw Shepard and I walking up.

“But I like that old thing”

“I agree with the Quarian, it’s got to go, it almost bloody killed me” Zaeed grumped.

“With the parts I salvage from this older model I can patch the newer models until we get back to either Omega or the Citadel for proper repairs.” Tali explained

“I’m going to have to back Tali and Zaeed on this Shepard; you’ve had that thing since Eden Prime.” I said noticing the old assault rifle’s paint and sticker job. “At least before Eden Prime”

Shepard looked at the old Avenger with a defeated sigh. I understood she relied on that thing and liked to switch out from time to time, but it needed to go if it was starting to back fire on Tali and Zaeed. “All right, Tali you win. Do whatever you think is best with it”

“Thank you Shepard, you won’t regret this, and besides maybe when we dock next you’ll find a new favorite toy” Tali said taking the gun and dismantling it.

“Aside from the big Turian in red armor? Hahahaha! Wishful thinking there Tali’Zorah” Zaeed said with a loud laugh. Samara gave a light scoff before making her way to the shuttle; Shepard’s face was a deep shade of red as she quickly put on her helmet and raced after Samara. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and follow after them, the sounds of the laughing and giggling fading behind us.

“I don’t like him anymore” I said

“We’re stuck for the time being.” Shepard said letting the pilot know we were ready.

I sat across from Samara with Shepard beside me. Her cold stare was annoying; though I hoped after all of this was done I’d be able to get off of the Justicar’s shit list. Shepard explained the game plan and we all agreed. Hopefully the ‘Turians’ were able to do a little damage to the Collector ship. Go in, get any information we can, and get out. It seemed pretty straight forward. We knew how those things could turn out on more than one occasion. “Cheerful” I said making a sweep when we were on the ship.

“Stay alert, it is much too quiet here” Samara said

“Yeah, much too quiet is an understatement” Shepard said as EDI chimed in

“I have been running scans and this ship’s signature matches the one that was on Horizon.” The AI said as we made our way further in.

“Great…so this ought to be good” Shepard mumbled her weapon raised.

“Let’s just get this over with” I said was we came upon one of those pods that was used on Horizon. I could already tell this was going to be a fun filled mission.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter is in the works, trying to polish as i go. hopefully we've gotten back on track with things, also there might be another long delay in the next chapter Metal Gear Solid will be coming out in a week and then there is Destiny...i love you guys just so you know xD. and i hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter. thank you all for almost the hundredth time you all are awesome beautiful readers.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Illusive Man's ruse is found out as Shepard Nihlus and Samara make their way through the downed Collector ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> inventory was crap and my birthday was less than what i had expected but i'm used to it. anyway i managed to finish this chapter with out dying from being over worked at work. i will be starting on the next chapter this even when i get off. Enjoy!

“Oh that is just gross” Shepard groused looking inside the Collector pod. There was nothing left but some sort of sludge lining the bottom.

“Something tells me we might be in a little over our heads here Shepard” I commented.

“I think that may be something Nihlus and I can agree on Commander.” Samara said.

“Great, awesome, let’s keep moving shall we?” Shepard said drawing her weapon and heading farther along into the ship.

It wasn’t long before we came across a pile of what seemed to be dead human bodies. The sight was worse than anything Shepard or I had ever seen in our lives; I couldn’t account for Samara though I was sure she had seen quite a bit in her long lifetime. We didn’t spend too much time speculating why the Collectors were so interested in the humans, only that now they weren’t suffering some grotesque experiment anymore. I could understand that rage that Shepard held onto under all that armor, we all did, though it seemed the humans would have the brunt of it all with what we just saw. Failed remains of whatever it was the collectors had been doing. We kept moving the silence was beginning to wear down on my nerves. I used to enjoy silence of working on a mission solo, but over the past few years I had grown accustomed to the noise that came with serving on a human vessel, or any vessel for that matter. Shepard seemed to sense the discomfort and turned on one of her human music tracks between our helmet radios. “Shouldn’t be too bad now. Sorry Samara if it’s a little loud.” Shepard said walking into a console near another pod and a dead collector on a slab.

“It is fine Commander, though are you all right?” Samara asked

“Yeah, I’m good.” Shepard replied.

“This is interesting…” I said taking a look at the console and screen that showed the collector’s data.

“EDI, what can you make out of this?” Shepard asked the AI. Though a lot of this data looked familiar, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

EDI ran her processes through the Normandy. She explained that the strands of DNA from this dead Collector were once Prothean. The three of us could not believe what we had heard. Prothean? How could these things be Prothean? EDI explained how they had been repurposed by the Reapers to become what they are today. “That’s insane, are you sure about that EDI?” I asked a bit bewildered at how these things could be Protheans.

“In all my years, never have I seen anything such as this” Samara said off to the side examining one of the dead carcasses.

“That’s….just gross. Genetic manipulation.” Shepard said with a shudder before bending down to investigate something from a foul smelling pile.

“What are you doing?” I asked trying to keep my distance.

“If anything, with that kind of info and all, at least I can say we came out with a new toy” she said with a smile holding up an M-76 Revenant Light Machine gun.

“…how…?” I couldn’t even finish my thought; it was simply astounding how she was able to find things like this.

“Don’t even try Nihlus, I’ve been wondering that myself for as long as I’ve known her also” Joker said over the radio.

“Let’s go guys” she said fitting a thermal clip to the new weapon.

I shook my head and followed, Samara smiled slightly bringing up the rear. I checked my Omni-Tool every now and then as we continued into the belly of the massive ship. Something was off about this whole thing. There were no signs of the said Turians that had managed to disable the ship, no ships, no bodies, nothing. I had a feeling were had been played. So far there had been nothing but static from my channels and it was not looking good for our situation. “I’m going to end up repeating myself here Shepard but I seriously don’t like this. It’s too quiet” I said turning off my Omni-tool before running into her stopped at the edge of a larger room.

“Whoa…”

“All these pods…far too many if they plan to take all the humans in the Terminus.”

“Like I said, this is bad news”

“We heard you already Nihlus” Shepard started to walk into the larger room. Looking up I could see all the pods. Samara was right, there were too many here for all the humans that are actually living out in the Terminus systems. “They won’t stop at the Terminus; they’re going to head to Earth”

“All the more reason to stop them.” Samara said as we made our way through and to a command console.

“Something else doesn’t seem right here Shepard. Where are all the Collector’s that are supposed to be on this thing, as well as the Turians?” I asked taking in the surroundings.

“That’s a good question. Let’s get what we can here first then worry about that.” She said accessing the console. “You in EDI?

“Yes, it will take me a moment though. Beginning data mining.” The AI said as data flew by on a holo screen from the console.

So far, so good, though that hardly ever seems to be the case. Everything was going fine until the platforms began to shake. We had lost EDI for a few seconds as the tremors shook us. “What the hell?! Joker, status report!” Shepard shouted once the tremors stopped.

“We’re good up here but there was some kind of power surge” Joker said over the radio.

“I was able to divert the overload across non-critical systems. Also this was no simple malfunction, it was a trap” EDI explained.

“Well that’s nice”

“Save it until we get out of here…if we get out of here” Shepard told me as the platform began to move to what looked like the other side of the large room.

“I’m hurt Shepard, I haven’t said anything” I said

“You were going to and just save it.” 

“Shepard I am having trouble maintaining the connection, someone else is in the system” the AI explained as the platform suddenly stopped. Samara fell to the side while Shepard backed up into me bringing us both down.

“Oof!”

“Fucking hell!”

“This is unexpected”

“EDI did you get the connection back?” Shepard asked as we all managed to get back to our feet.

“I have. Though I do need some time to finish the data download before I am able to override any systems.” EDI explained “I also advise a defensive position, there are Collectors closing in fast.”

Fast was an understatement, flying in on other platforms, we would be lucky if we got out of here with our lives. Of course with us if it wasn’t one thing it was another. There were drones and Scions and a few platforms incoming with more. After some time we managed to fight the last of the Scions things seemed to cool down for a moment. Shepard, with her uncanny ability to find things, searched the area for extra clips and distributed them equally. EDI had radioed during that time to let us know that she would be able to regain control if we can access the console again. “Cover me a minute, I saw a power cell over on that other platform” Shepard said walking away from the console.

“You’re lucky I love you so much” I grumbled making sure no more surprises decided to come our way.

“And as you are lucky to have her” Samara decided to chime in. I stared at the Justicar for a moment before going back to watching Shepard as she made her way back to the command console on our platform.

“Found some heavy ammo” Shepard said with a smile.

“You have quite the ability Shepard” Samara complimented her.

“Why thank you. It was a hobby turned summer job when I was a kid of course. Best way to make a few spending creds for the summer on earth when mom had leave” Shepard said with a grin.

“And thank you for the ego inflation, Samara, really appreciate that” I grimaced checking my clips.

“With any luck it might stay this change in you Nihlus. For that I will be hopeful and glad” she said joining Shepard at the console.

By that time my Omni-Tool binged. I went over the incoming info quickly as Shepard and Samara were busy at the console. We had a problem and if ever I was to meet the Illusive Man in person I would murder him. “Shepard we got a problem.”

“What?”

“The signal supposedly sent out by Turians…it was a trap” I explained. “Our little buddy in Cerberus played us”

“Are you serious?” Shepard asked walking over and looking at my Omni-Tool.

“He is Shepard. The signal was fabricated to lure us here” EDI explained as she finished her data mine. She also explained the error that was found and how the Illusive Man sent us to in to the hornet’s nest.

“I say after the Collector’s we go after the Illusive Man.” I said closing my Omni-tool.

“Uh, guys you might want to hurry whatever you’re doing up.” Joker cut in sounding frantic.

“Now what?” Shepard snapped.

“That thing is powering up, might want to get out of there, and quickly!”

“This day just gets better and better” I said as the platform began to move towards a docking platform.

“We must hurry then” Samara said once the platform stopped and we began to move.

“EDI!”

“Don’t fail us now”

“Opening a door on the other side, enemies are also incoming.” EDI said opening the second door for us to get our asses moving. It also was not long until we were running head long into drones and some heavy fire. Shepard somehow managed to grab stray tech as she took cover between Samara and myself. I shook my head at Shepard; all she could do was shrug as we battled through Harbinger and his drones.

The collector ship was nothing more than a damned maze with all the ramps and turns as we began the hard fight to get back to the shuttle. Luckily we were close to where we had come in and it shouldn’t be too difficult to get back to where we needed to be. Though as always, those were famous last words. There was almost no time to breathe between the waves of Collectors that Harbinger was throwing at us. Husks, drones, even Scions were added to the mix as well as Harbinger taking control of a few drones to try and goad at Shepard. She remained focused despite everything, and as usual managed to come across stray clips and other items when we were able to stop for a few seconds to catch our breath. “Are we ready to move up?” Shepard asked sitting next to me behind one of the makeshift covers.

“I’m ready to get off this damned ship.” I said making sure my clips were secure.

“We should try to hurry, I doubt we have much time left” Samara added.

“Right then, let’s go” Shepard said as we all stood and made for the next area before we hopefully would be free of this ship.

“I have opened a door on the other side of the room” EDI said as we made it to what seemed like the last leg of this whole ordeal.

“On our way EDI” I said as we tried to make a break for it.

“Collectors incoming!” Samara gave the heads up as we bolted for cover.

As we made our way dispatching Collectors one of the Praetorians decided to make an appearance to try to hinder our progress. Shepard made sure to pull out the particle beam to try to take it down. We worked in tandem bringing down its barrier so Shepard could hit it with her heavy weapon.

“Almost there guys, just a little bit further” Shepard said kicking over the body of one of the drones and taking any and all clips as well as tech to be salvaged.

“More incoming” I said as we reached for cover once more moving up.

Wave after what seemed like unending wave of husks, abominations along with other random collector forces. After the third wave another Scion made itself known, they aren’t all that intelligent so I wasn’t surprised when it didn’t move from the hallway where it had come in. With it standing in one spot made it easier to take cover and take it down. “I can see the shuttle” Samara said as we made a break for the hallway leading down to where we had entered.

“Double time it people!” Shepard called out.

“Might want to quadruple time it, the weapons are about to come online!” Joker called over the radio as more husks began to swarm our escape.

“GRENADE!” I called out throwing one ahead of Shepard into the swarm. Luckily she dodged the blast and kept running.

It had felt as if we were running for longer than just a few minutes when we finally reached the shuttle. Shepard shoved the pilot out of his seat and took over the controls making sure we were off the ship before Samara and I had a chance to sit down. We hit the Normandy’s hold with a sharp thud. “Joker move your ass!!” Shepard shouted once the hold was closed and we made our way to the bridge.

“EDI get us out of here!!” I could hear Joker yell as Shepard and I ran to the bridge. I vaulted into the co-pilot seat pulling up the screens.

“Please designate a location” EDI said

“Anywhere but here!”

“Head to this location!” I punched in coordinates to a place well away from the Collectors as they began to power their beam.

“Punch it EDI!” Joker exclaimed as the Normandy went to fast then light speed out of the area. The last thing that we saw was the particle beam powering up and missing us by a fraction.

 

After Shepard had reamed out the Illusive Man for tricking us, and finding out that we now have a way to get through the Omega Four relay I made her go to the Med-bay to see Dr. Chakwas, and called everyone into the briefing room. “Now; I understand that most of you are not very comfortable with me being on this vessel, and I don’t care. If you have something that you need Shepard to look into, you will have to come to me and I will relay the message to her.” I started once everyone was settled.

“Is Shepard okay Nihlus?” Tali asked

“She’s fine but she needs to rest. We have the time right now that we can do what we need to have everyone focused on this mission and still have time for time R&R” I explained. “If what you need Shepard to look into is too personal to forward to me then once Shepard has had time to rest and eat something I will have her come to you so that you might explain you situation.”

“I think I will save mine for when Shepard is rested, thank you Spectre Kyrik” Lawson said walking out of the debriefing room.

“I’ll tell you right now, I need to get to Pragia. The Telton Facility. I want to put a nuke right in the center and watch it burn” Jack said

“Is that what you found in the Cerberus files on you?”

“Yeah, so if Shepard can approve that we’ll be all fine and dandy”

“I’ll pass it along.” I said with a nod “Anyone else?”

“I’ll forward you my files Nihlus, that way you can go over them with Shepard. I’m pretty sure it’s a wild goose chase but I’d like to look into it” Jacob said

“I’ll go over it with her”

“I as well would like to speak to Shepard when she has had time to rest if that is all the same to you Nihlus” Samara spoke, at least she was more polite then Lawson despite the fact I might still be on the Justicar’s shit list.

“I’ll let her know Samara”

“Thank you” she said with a nod and walked out.

“Anyone else?” I asked.

“I will forward you my file Nihlus, not really comfortable with discussing it here.” Tali said nervously.

“All right Tali, I’ll get Shepard to look at it personally”

“Thank you.”

“Sidonis. Shepard will know what I’m talking about” Garrus said walking out behind Tali.

“Lost compatriot. On Tuchunka. Explain more when Commander is well. Back to lab. Science can never be stopped.” Mordin said in his usual way heading out and back to his lab.

I already had a head ache. How did Shepard put up with all of this? The last one in the room was Grunt after Kasumi and Zaeed had left saying they were all well and good. I looked at the tank bred Krogan. I could see him chomping at the proverbial bit as Shepard would say. “EDI, any idea what’s wrong with Grunt?”

“I cannot say, Krogan rarely have any recorded medical history” she explained.

“I want to hit something, my plates itch, and there’s a constant buzzing and I just want to hit something!” Grunt said smashing a piece of the table to the floor.

“…I have a friend on Tuchunka, so when we look into Mordin’s dealings we’ll talk to him and what’s wrong with you. Until then you think you can keep from tearing out a bulk head?” I asked watching him pace. My arms were folded across my carapace and I made sure to put a finger on my pistol.

He seemed to notice, wanting to challenge but thought better of it. Good for him. “I suppose I can. You think this friend of yours can help?”

“He should he’s the leader of Clan Urdnot” I explained.

“Fine. I’ll be in my cargo room” Grunt lumbered out as Shepard came in as I leaned on the table.

“Everything all right?” she asked. I looked up; she was in her sleep pants and a baggy shirt, bandages on her arms and face. I could smell the soap mixed with the medi-gel.

“Yeah. Making sure to get everyone sorted for when you’ve had some sleep.” I said walking over to her taking her in my arms.

“You don’t have to, I feel better than I did an hour ago.” She said. I looked at her, she still felt weak.

“No, you’re not. You are going to get some rest. We’re going to head to Illium. I told Liara I would go talk to her so you could recover from this past week.” I told her

“Nihlus…”

“I’ll behave.”

“Don’t still be mad at her okay?”

“Who said I was mad?” I said picking her up and heading to the elevator.

“You’re taking all of it really well, I thought…”

“No, all that matters now is stopping the Collector’s and the Reapers and whatever else the universe decides to throw at us” I said when we reached the cabin and set her on the bed.

“Could it really get any worse?”

“Have you talked with Garrus?”

Hahahaha I see your point” she smiled at the thought of Garrus and one of his gloomy yet light hearted conversations. I lay next to her as she huddled up at my side, it was nice to just lay and relax even for a few moments.

Sometimes I wondered what would have been if Saren hadn’t have gone completely crazy or had been indoctrinated by Sovereign. Then I look at the human next to me and realize maybe it was a good thing, even if all that has led us to here has been terrible. I lost her once and I will be damned if I will lose her again. I could feel her breathing slow down as she drifted off from pain medication and possibly some booze from the crew lounge before she had made her way into the conference room.

“We should be near Illium within a few hours” EDI said from her console near the door.

“Thank you EDI. Make sure no one disturbs us until then” I asked pulling Shepard closer to me as I drifted off along with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this latest update. running the collector ship was a pain in the butt when it when you realize it was a trap. but anywho, i hope you all enjoyed and thank you all for reading and putting up with my very irregular updating XD   
> the next chapter might just be a lot of filler...see you all next time! <3


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard and the crew start their run going after the Shadow Broker, and Nihlus's expressed disgruntled-ness towards Vasir

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy late christmas everyone! i am so sorry for this being as late as it is. it has been a very hectic month. i would have updated on christmas eve but i had to work and my anxiety was to the point i just wanted to hit something. but i am here now and i hope you all had a happy christmas, and if you were able to see star wars even better :D. dividing this mission up between chapters because of the anxiety. hope you all enjoy!

Shepard and I managed to hide away in a private hotel on Illium after I talked with Liara. It had been a week of quiet from most of the crew; we only had to leave the safety of our room a few times due to our Krogan, Quarian and fellow Turian accompanied by the Thief and the Merc. After the third time and confining them to the ship for 24hrs, they managed to stay out of trouble. The sun was rising and Shepard snoozed lightly draped over my chest. Aside from slipping a sleeping aid in her drink, she had managed to sleep most of the night and still managed to migrate around the bed and myself. “Freaking hell…” Shepard groaned finally waking up.

“Morning” I said shifting making her fall onto the bed.

“How the hell did I get…? I really have to slow it down on the tequila” she said rubbing her eyes and sitting up.

“You’re not technically with the Alliance at the moment and your Spectre status is nothing more than a title until all this is over with, so I wouldn’t worry too much unless it starts to get in the way of you getting the job done” I explained sitting up with a stretch.

“Still.” She smiled “Anything from the Normandy?”

“Not yet. Hopefully they drank too much to start the trouble this morning.” I explained checking my Omni-Tool. “Hopefully it’s just being drunk. How are you feeling?”

“Better, after you and Chakwas made sure I had a mandatory leave for the past week” she said stretching her arms over my shoulders behind me.

“We’ll get the IFF, don’t worry about that. Right now we just need to focus on trying to get everyone’s heads in the game.” I explained grabbing her wrists pulling her closer.

“Let’s go see Liara then, grab Tali and see if she wants to go after the Shadow Broker. I peeked at the Intel Cerberus gave her.” Shepard said trying to wriggle free.

“Sure you’re up to doing that? It is the Shadow Broker.”

“And Liara is a friend. She may not be on the crew this time physically on the ship but she’s still one of ours” Shepard explained trying to see over my fringe.

“Alright, but what do you say to another few hours of being in bed?” I asked.

“You’re encouraging laziness? Who are you and what have you done with my Nihlus?” she kissed my left mandible.

“I’m not encouraging laziness, just rest for those I love and to make sure my crew is at top performance. And if that means making sure I have plenty of time with my future mate and she with me then that’s what I’m going to do” I explained.

“Uh-huh” she said pulling me down.

 

It was well into late evening before we were able to get over to Liara’s office. “Sorry, Liara we were supposed to be here earlier” Shepard said shooting me a scathing glance. All I could do was shrug when Liara welcomed us.

“I understand it gave me a little more time to go over the data you gave me. If you all could meet me at my apartment we’ll go over a plan of attack and get underway” Liara said giving Shepard a quick hug before jogging out of the office.

“That was unexpected” Tali said

“She might have found something else” Shepard said leading the way out.

“Her office is pretty much bugged. Her apartment might be a little safer that it is here” I said following the girls to the trading floor.

“Maybe…”

“No we do not have time to do to the other shop and get you another fish. It was your own fault this time” I said as we made our way through the halls to one of the taxi terminals.

“But Nihlus!”

“No. Let’s go.” I said as Tali go into the taxi before us.

“Can we stop by later then?” Shepard asked

“Do you really think we have the credits for it right now Shepard?” Tali asked

“Oh fine. Let’s go see Liara then” Shepard relented and got into the taxi. Soon we were off and on our way to some of the better looking high-rises of Illium.

 

When we reached Liara’s apartment something seemed off. The place had been broken into and had been ransacked. Before we headed in I recognized one of the cars parked next to the Illium police vehicles. “Shepard wait.” I said stopping her from getting out of the taxi.

“What is it Nihlus?”

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this Shepard” I said hoping she’d pick up on the warning in my sub vocals. She paused for a moment and tilted her head.

“I’m sure it’s nothing” she said after another moment, she was now on her guard as the three of us walked in. I knew my feeling had been correct after seeing the Asari Spectre standing in the middle of the chaos. “Who is that?”

“Tela Vasir” I growled. “I’ll hang back and you can talk to her”

“Commander Shepard, the first human Spectre, a pleasure to finally meet you in person.” Vasir said as she dismissed the police and let us through. “Kyrik”

I remained silent. I did not like Vasir and she did not like me. I leaned in the doorway keeping to myself as her and Shepard discussed what had happened. Apparently the story was that someone had tried to assassinate Liara, but she had stuck around for some odd reason. “She had to have left something behind for us.” Shepard said scanning the room.

“The cops and I didn’t find much of anything, just some dusty old artifacts, but if you think you can find something then by all means take a look around. Let me know what you find.” Vasir said walking over to a desk with what looked like her own paperwork on the situation.

“It makes a little sense” Shepard said over our private channel.

“More than a little don’t you think? Just be mindful of Vasir” I said scanning the room from where I stood, making sure to keep an eye on Vasir as well.

“What about you?”

“Standing here for the moment keeps us all alive” I said.

“I love you Nihlus”

“I love you too Shepard”

“You two are so adorable it’s making me sick” Tali muttered to the side “And I’m wearing an enviro suit.”

“Keep laughing Tali, I see you and Garrus” I commented watching Shepard go around to the different artifacts and pictures from Liara’s expeditions and digs.

“And I have a shot gun”

“Shaking in my boots” I said shaking my head. Shepard paused by a piece of her old armor before moving on the pictures of Illos.

After ten more long and excruciating minutes Shepard and Vasir finally had found something. Liara had left a message for Shepard somewhere in the apartment. Cases like this were tedious in their own way given the amount of investigation that it usually took to either find who did it or find the victim, hopefully still alive. “Nihlus check some of the displays down there would you?” Shepard called from the second level.

“Which ones exactly?” I asked leaving my spot by the door.

“The ones that have Prothean relics in them, I think”

“You think?”

“Don’t argue with the lady Kyrik” Vasir decided that she would butt in on the conversation. 

I glared up at the second level; Vasir was getting on my last nerve. She made me uneasy on a normal basis, now that there are bigger fish involved; I had a feeling none of this was going to end pretty. I searched the relic near the door as Shepard and Vasir made their way down the stairs to the relic that stood near the base. “I’ve got nothing over on this one” I said trying to keep my distance.

“I think I have something here, though” Shepard said pressing a hidden button in the base of the display. Inside the small draw was a backup disc of what Liara was working on before she was shot at.

When Shepard played back the disc it showed Liara talking to one of her informants, Sekat. He somehow managed to nail down the Shadow Broker and his base of operations down to a cluster, maybe a system inside the cluster. Sekat had also asked for Liara to meet him at the Dracon Trade Center to discuss it further. I walked back over to Tali and let Shepard and Vasir talk about what to do next. We were to head to the trade center to try and find Liara or Sekat before the Shadow Broker’s agents could find them. “Let’s see if we can get there before Vasir” I suggested as we walked out to our Skycar just as Vasir headed off for the trade center.

“Doubtful that looks like her personal vehicle. Shepard, Nihlus might be right, I don’t think we can trust her as far as we can throw her.” Tali said as we tried to follow Vasir.

“Let’s just find out what happened with Liara” Shepard said.

 

The ride to the trade center was not long, a few turns here, a turn there and we were unloading at the front entrance. I was half listening when Vasir had mentioned the Frontiers office was on the third floor. “I’m sure we can handle it from here Vasir” I said

“I don’t think so, Kyrik; this technically isn’t your jurisdiction. I stay until we find out what’s going on.” Vasir said as we made our way to the entrance to the building. I would have argued if it weren’t for the sudden explosion from the building.

“What the fuck!?” Shepard exclaimed when we were able to recover most of our bearings.

“Explosion, three floors it looks like” I said looking at the damage.

“If you guys can clear out the bottom, I’ll meet you guys in the middle” Vasir said taking off in her sky car.

“Bosh ‘Tet” Tali mumbled checking her thermal clips

“That’s putting rather nicely, but I agree with Tali” I said helping Shepard get the rest of her bearings.

“Yeah well let’s move, see if we can get to Sekat if he survived before the Shadow Broker’s agents do” Shepard said as we made our way into the trade center main lobby.

Most of the lobby was in shambles though it was quite for the moment as we made our way through. “Shepard…” I warned as we made our way through to the elevator. Vasir came over the radio making sure to let us know that we shouldn’t count on Sekat surviving the blast and that this was the work of a professional. “Given the lack of police of security, that much was obvious Vasir”

“Oh, Kyrik, don’t get you under wear in a bunch. But seriously someone is almost to steps ahead” Vasir said before clicking out from our frequency.

“I really don’t like this Shepard” I reiterated my thoughts from before.

“I don’t either Nihlus. Let’s just keep moving right now. Hopefully we’ll find someone who maybe saw something before the explosion.” Shepard said as we headed up the stairs.

“Can we block Vasir from out frequency then?” I asked as we moved.

“I guess, but we might miss something”

“You might, like how this is the Salarian Embassy here on Illium. This is really meticulous, so we are not dealing with amateurs, clearly” I explained. “A lot of this floor is locked down, and this poor bastard was killed from a blaster shot and not from the explosion.”

“Good work Kyrik, guess you aren’t slipping after all” Vasir clipped in. There was surprise in her voice; I wasn’t buying it.

“Go to hell Vasir”  

“Please don’t start you two, but yeah, this had been staged. Move up” Shepard said as Vasir blipped out and we continued up the stairs from the plaza.

“There’s a bomb over here” Tali said noting the package like object off to our left.

“Military grade, currently not armed. I think we’ll be good for now.” I said scanning it with my Omni-tool. “This may not have been planned out passed a certain point.”

“Usually they employ hardware like that when there isn’t much time to plan” Vasir decided to mention as if I had not said a word.

Tali and Shepard both let out a stifled chuckle as I let out an exasperated grunt at the annoying Asari and her constant radio chatter. After Shepard was done with her shared giggle with Tali she managed to check the Baria Frontiers log book. Liara had checked in just a few minutes ago. That should have been good enough news, maybe there was a little bit of hope, though I doubted that. We managed to spot the small group of Shadow Broker agents beyond the window. Taking cover, one of them spotted us and sent a flash bang our way barely blinding us as we took cover at the window.

Shepard radioed Vasir letting her know we were pinned down. I cut the Asari off as she tried to tell us to say hello to the Shadow Broker’s private army. We didn’t need her commentary through any of this. We would meet her on the third level where I was sure she would be meeting us once we cleared up the lower floors. There would be hassle enough without her chiming in every few minutes.

It was a slow push forward as we ducked and covered making our way through the Shadow Broker’s agents. We were able to take out most of the troops from where we had hunkered down, soon we were able to move up and take out more of the Intel broker’s people. Once we had a small enough break Shepard did what she did best and that was finding things. Tali joined her in salvaging some tech and parts from a few things that had been damaged in the blast. While they did that I made sure we had enough clips for our weapons so we would be ready for the next set of agents. Liara was here somewhere as well doing Spirits knows what. Hopefully for all of our sakes she was able to get Sekat’s info before the Broker’s agents had gotten here. “All right, I think we’re good to go” Shepard said as her and Tali joined me near the door to the next area.

“We’re good on Medi-gel for right now and Shepard also managed to find some stray credits” Tali explained drawing her shot gun.

“Great…from what I can see there is plenty of cover but we should expect a harder fight as we make our way further up.” I explained looking ahead from the small cover.

“Okay then, let’s move” she ordered and we were underway again. The sooner we got to Sekat the better.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for reading and i really do hope you enjoyed. working on the next chapter and will see you all in the new year.
> 
> ETA on next Chapter : i thank you all for you patience with me, and i thank you all for reading. next chapter should be along in another month, lots of things happening lately. see you all again soon hopefully.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finding Liara and chasing Vasir. Skay car chase commentary short as it may have been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter. I think I said I would break up the Shadow Broker mission. so here it is. sorry there is such a large gap with the updates. life happened. please enjoy

We made our way slowly but surely through more of the Shadow Broker’s agents heading through the cubicles and corridors. We managed to dispatch them as quickly as they funneled themselves into each of our rounds. Eventually we made our way to a hallway that was blocked by fire. “We got a bit of a problem Vasir” Shepard radioed the Asari.

“There should be a suppression switch nearby that should clear that up quick” Vasir replied.

It took a moment to locate the switch.  After it was activated the fires died and we were able to proceed. “Okay, we’re on our way up now Vasir” Shepard said as we made our way cautious of any more of the Shadow Broker’s agents.

“Alright, I’m on my way down your way, meet you in the middle” Vasir replied before cutting off her radio.

“Again Shepard, I have a bad feeling about this” I expressed as we walked up the stairs.

“I know you do Nihlus, but honestly it can’t be that bad.”

“Don’t say that I didn’t warn you”

“Duly noted my lovely velociraptor” she smiled giving me a quick peck on my mandible before walking a head of Tali and I.

“You two make me sick. But in a good way” Tali giggled following after Shepard. All I could do was sigh and shake my head following them up the stairs to meet Vasir. A few more agents to plow through and we were on our way finally.

When we finally opened the door we were a fraction too late, entering only as Sekat was being finished off by one of the Broker’s agents. Vasir managed to shoot the agent dispatching him before either side could react. “You’re welcome” she muttered. “Did you manage to find T’Soni’s body on the way or anything?”

We all gave Vasir questioning looks “What do you mean?” Tali asked

“Just wondering”

“That’s because Vasir tried to kill me” it was Liara herself that had come into the room pointing a pistol at the Asari Spectre.

“Are you sure about that Liara, she helped us get here” Shepard asked, always wanting to see the good. Tali and I pulled our rifles on Vasir.

“Shepard, she was the one who signaled the Broker’s agents and broke into my home. She is not who you think she is Shepard.” Liara explained. “She was the one who killed Sehkat and took the data.”

Shepard looked to me then to Liara. I trusted Liara enough to believe her, and I never really liked Vasir and now I had a valid reason. Finally Shepard pulled her assault rifle at Vasir.

“C’mon Shepard, who are you going to believe? The one who gave you to Cerberus or a fellow Spectre.” Vasir asked trying to buy herself some time.

“Liara is a friend. I’d believe her any day” Shepard said as we all primed our shots.

“Too bad” Vasir said breaking the glass of the window behind her. “You and the pure blooded bitch can die together then” Vasir through a biotic blast our way. Liara managed to cover us with a barrier as Shepard made a mad dash tackling Vasir through the window. Tali and I took pot shots missing Vasir as she and Shepard went down.

Liara also makes a mad dash out of the window after Shepard and Vasir, mainly after Vasir. “What the hell is with these guys anyway?” Tali exclaimed as we watched the scuffle before taking the leap after them.

“We’ll find out as soon as we can catch up with them, then won’t we” I said helping Shepard up and watching Liara and Vasir take off out through the plaza.

“That actually kind of hurt” Shepard commented

“What, the fall?” I asked

“Not so much as Liara running past without a second glance” she said.

“Let’s just try to catch up with them and get this over with” Tali said as we made our way into another small group of Shadow Broker agents.

 

I had to hand it to the Asari in general; they were fast. Vasir and Liara were a good ways a head of us as we made our way behind them. The Shadow Broker seemed to have an endless supply of agents. Not that it bothered me. The more we were able to take down, the less we would have to deal with later on. It wasn’t long before we were able to catch up to the two Asari caught up in a fire fight outside. Seeking the opportunity; Vasir summoned her sky car and headed away at high speed. “We have to hurry!” Liara called running to hail a cab, Shepard, Tali and I close behind.

“Well let’s get in the car and get going!” Shepard said catching up to Liara.

“Then you can drive if you think you can catch up to her” Liara said

“Thank you but I wish to live. I remember those rides in the MAKO” Tali commented holstering her pistol and starting to head back to help the people before heading to the Normandy.

“I’m not letting that turn coat get away, Shepard drives and we sit down and shut up” I said getting into the cab.

“I suppose I can take my chances, as long as we get Vasir and to the Shadow Broker.” Liara said getting in the passenger seat and we set off.

Tali may have had the right idea. We stayed on Vasir’s tail but this was almost exactly like a ride in the MAKO. We were barely strapped in before Shepard punched the throttle. “Damnit, woman!” I exclaimed.

“TRUCK!!”

“Oh we’re fine” Shepard said obviously having too much fun with all this.

“She’s dropping proximity charges, Shepard, look out!”

Now I think I know why Cerberus wasn’t too keen on giving her back the MAKO when they rebuilt the Normandy and gave Shepard her life back. “Watch the charges woman!”

“Watch out for the truck also!”

“Again with the truck!”

“Then watch where the hell you’re going!”

“Turn left! My left!”

“Does this thing have any weapons?”

“Aside from what we brought with us?”

“It’s a taxi Shepard, it has a fare meter!”

“So that’s a no?”

“Damnit Shepard!” I exclaimed as we were knocked by one of the charges that Vasir had dropped in our path. It wasn’t long before we were able to catch up to Vasir. Only to be rammed; I guess it was a good thing that Shepard retained how to drive the MAKO. We were able to stay in the air as Vasir ricocheted into another sky car and went careening into the Azure Hotel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading, i love you all. sorry it was a short chapter and may have been a bit rushed, but multiple parts for the Shadow Broker Mission. see you in the next update


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hotel battle and the approach of the coming climax of the Liar of the Shadow Broker. And all round general feels for this story arc because yeah we all were there.  
> Also Shepard says something that throws off all seriousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok we all know that Nihlus did some shit in the past. so there may be a part where i just couldn't think of anything and had him stand there. i am so sorry. otherwise here we are. one more chapter and we should be back on track and the Shadow Broker will be done for

“There is Vasir’s car, let’s hurry before she gets too far away”

“That was a pretty bad crash, how far can she get?” Shepard asked pulling a spare med pack from the small taxi we had ‘barrowed’ and setting it to her belt.

“She’s almost as good as I am in ways of being a Spectre Shepard” I explained noticing the blood. “If she needs to she can get pretty far.”

“So, almost as good as you?” Shepard asked in a teasing manner.

“I’ve out run an Asair Justicar just to have her end up on our ship and threaten me if I as much as side step you” I said flatly.

“I was teasing”

“I know”

“Come on you two, she won’t get far but she will get the jump on us if we actually don’t hurry.” Liara said stopping us in our tracks. We all knew where it was heading and now was not the time for it.

Shepard let out a small chuckle as we got our act together and heading up the stairs in the parking lot. Spirits be damned if anything is ever easy for us. Shadow Broker agents and heavy troops seemed to have been either waiting for us or Vasir called in some back up. Like in the fights leading up to this Shepard made sure to scramble for ammo off of the dead agents as Liara and I covered her. It had felt like old times, only this time we were taking in the Shadow Broker. These agents seemed a little more intent on making sure we didn’t catch up with Vasir. Though it didn’t take us long before we were through the waves of heavies and engineers heading up to where Vasir’s sky car had crashed. “Look, a blood trail” Liara pointed out as we approached the car.

“Somehow I thought that crash would have been worse.” Shepard commented looking at the car and where it had landed.

“It’s a good couple hundred thousand credits to be sure” I said scanning it with my Omni-tool.

“I’m sure if we follow the blood then we’ll catch up with Vasir.” Liara was dead set on capturing the other Asari.

“She’s losing a lot of blood. Might as well hurry so she doesn’t bleed out on us” Shepard commented tracing her steps back a few paces and pilfering ammo from some more of the fallen Shadow Broker agents. I took the power cells that Vasir had left behind making sure Shepard and I had enough just in case we needed to use our heavy weapons.

“I highly doubt she’ll bleed out on us but if she does I want to be there to make sure she’s dead.” Liara had almost growled at the thought of the rogue Asari Spectre. She headed out ahead of us as we made sure we were set to go just in case there was a harder fight ahead.

“Nihlus?”

“Yes, Shepard?”

“Do you think Liara is all right?” Shepard asked once Liara was far enough out of ear shot.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked tilting my head at the question.

“I don’t know really, she just seems out of place? If that makes any sense?” Shepard said standing in front of me.

“I’m sure she’s alright Shepard. The sooner that we get this sorted and free her friend Feron I’m sure she’ll be back to her old self.” I tried to make it sound as if everything would be fine. Honestly I was horrible at it. Shepard gave me a look that said nice try. Clapping my pauldron she headed up to meet Liara. Everything was not ok. Liara seemed to blame herself. Hell I blamed her for a while, but we’re trying to help her.

“Nihlus c’mon or you don’t get a shot at the bitchy Asari” Shepard called in her usual manner of trying to keep things light.

“I’ll never understand that woman” I mumbled to myself and met up with them.

“So why is the hotel called Azure?” Shepard asked.

“It’s a slang term for a part of the Asari anatomy” Liara said not wanting to go into detail.

“What part?” Shepard asked trying to coax the info out of our friend.

“What do you think it means?”

“C’mon, you can tell me”

“Shepard.” I finally had to interject.

“Yeah?”

“Where was I just not but a week ago, that had you in a writhing mess?” I could see the wheels turning and Liara wanting so hard to laugh given the severity of the current situation.

“Oh… _ooohhhh_ ” Shepard finally realized as we made our way through the hotel’s rooms following Vasir’s blood trail. “You could have just said vagina” Liara almost tripped and I had to stop and look at the human I was determined on calling my mate. She was spending too much time with Grunt and Zaeed. Pretty soon I would have to stop Skyllian Five night in the mess.

“Let’s just keep moving” Liara said, a flicker of her old self trying to shine through as we wound our way through.

We finally make our way through to see Vasir trying her best to blend in with the crown and try to get away. Liara spotted her right away and pulled her pistol at the fleeing now former Spectre. Again spirits be damned if anything is ever easy for us. Vasir managed to grab one of the waitresses putting her gun to the poor woman’s head. “Please, I have a son” the woman cries.

“Now Shepard, you wouldn’t want to put that poor boy in an orphanage now would you?” Vasir taunted.

Our weapons raised and ready to take a shot. Shepard was focused as she always is in these situations. “Let her go Vasir. Maybe, just maybe I might consider not letting Liara skin you alive” Shepard said glancing at each of us in turn.

“Really, you think that bitch scares me? You think you can scare me?” Vasir exclaimed “HA! That’s rich!”

“It’s over Vasir. Surrender and I can send you on to the Council and no one else has to get hurt” I said noticing as Liara’s biotics began to flicker.

“Fat chance. The only thing the Council will do is throw me in a cell and rot in C-Sec. “The Broker would send someone for me anyway.”

“Then let her go Vasir” Shepard persisted. She must have felt Liara’s biotics come to life as well.

“You know what? I think I might redecorate the walls. They were always so boring” Vasir’s finger twitched on the trigger.

“Now Liara!” Shepard shouted as a table was lifted and flew directly at Vasir leveling her and leaving leveling her hostage unharmed. Shepard ran forward to check on the woman, while Liara and I kept our weapons on the heap that was now Tela Vasir.

Liara and I looked at each other. This was a bit too easy. Vasir even with heavy injuries like that could still fight her way through a battalion. That’s why she was a Spectre. When Shepard finally joined us after making sure what civilians were there were clear, there was a low rumble and a surge of biotic power. Vasir was ready for fight and was not going to go down easily, that was for sure. “Why is it always us?” Shepard groaned as we got ready for the fight.

Vasir was a tank with her barriers and armor. I knew that from personal experience sparring with the Asari before. Shepard took to trying to wear her down like the Colossus when we had to get Tali. It wasn’t easy given Vasir’s strength balanced with her defense. Eventually we managed to break her defenses, keep her on the defensive. Shepard even had to bring out her heavy weapon to get any kind of damage going on her. That fight was long and hard, but we managed to ware her down to within inches of her life.

Liara marched right up to the downed Asari and took the disc that was stolen. Without a second glance she disappeared to a terminal to decipher it. “You won’t win! If anything the Broker will see you all dead” Vasir exclaimed. She was close to death. I offered to finish the job if Shepard couldn’t. But Shepard wanted to see what she could get out of the dyeing Asari.

“Why betray the Council?” Shepard asked.

“You think I did what that creepy assed Turian did? HA! I’m not like Saren, not in the least.” Vasir began to explain her side, if it could be called a side. “I had been getting info from the Shadow Broker for years and it saved countless lives. If it meant doing a few things that were frowned upon then so be it. I can live with myself for that.”

“You really think it was worth it though?”

“Why do you think the Spectres exist Shepard? Has dear old Nihlus been up front with you about all he’s done for the sake of the mission?” Vasir started to say and I just stood there. “We exist to do what the Council won’t. To do the dirty work so they don’t have to get their prissy little hands dirty. Just like what you’re doing with Cerberus.”

“That’s not the same” Shepard tried to say

“You think it isn’t? You know what they’ve done and yet here you are. So you better take a good long look in a mirror honey before you judge me and what I’ve done.” Vasir said with her last breathe. She was gone seconds later. Shepard stood and looked at me. Samara had told her about the village, I was sure of that. The other things Shepard didn’t need to know. Not unless she asked. She knew being a Spectre meant doing some things that maybe unsavory sometimes down right wrong for the sake of the mission. She gave a weak smile and headed into where Liara was going through the data.

That Justicar and I would have to have a talk about somethings later. Right now all that mattered was the data and the Shadow Broker. I can see the two of them talking about what just happened and how the Shadow Broker honestly wanted Liara dead. _It’ll be fine. Just stop thinking like that_ I had to mentally tell myself as I went into the conversation. “I’m going to forward the information to the Normandy. The Broker is on a planet called Hagalaz. We should hurry” Liara said as I walked in.

“Liara wait up just minute and breather will you?” Shepard asked trying to get Liara to loosen up.

“How can I Shepard we’re running out of time” Liara said.

“We will get to Feron in time Liara. We will. Joker knows how to push the Normandy to get us there with time to spare.” Shepard explained.

“Liara, we do have a small moment, maybe listen to Shepard” I cut in.

“Shepard do you remember when you rescued me on Therum?”

“Of course I do”

“You’ve always been there Shepard, for me, for all of us and now look at me. Still leaning on you for help” Liara explained.

“Yeah, because that’s what friends do Liara, they go to each other for help” Shepard explained. “We’ll get there and with the Normandy’s stealth drive we can most likely get out of here unnoticed.”

“Why do you always have to be this way Shepard?”

“Because that’s what I do apparently. But Liara they’ve killed innocent people…”

“I know Shepard…”

“Liara you went after Vasir without a second thought with murder in your eyes”   
“But it’s my fault that Sekat had gotten into this and now I got him killed. Things will be simple from here on out. We get the Broker, get Feron and get out.” Liara said trying to walk away.

“Liara dammit stop. Just stop. You trust me right? You asked me for help, and I’m helping, but you got to slow down just a moment.” Shepard tried.

“I agree Liara; we’ll get your friend back. And I can make sure none of this gets back to the Council except what Vasir did” I added catching up to them.

Liara looked at us both. There were actual tears in her eyes. “Oh Shepard, Nihlus; thank you. Let’s just get going and focus on getting Feron back please?”

“Of course, let’s get to the Normandy and we’ll get a move on” Shepard said and we made our way back to the Normandy to see how fast it could really go.

 

The ride on the Normandy was tense. Joker did his best to not rile Liara up any more than she already was. She also got to meet EDI and Shepard caught up with a few of the crew and what they needed her to do for them. I sat in the copilot’s seat and watched as we came up on Hagalaz. “So ok, let me get this straight. You guys are going to go down there. In the KODIAK and find the Shadow Broker?” Joker asked looking at me.

“Yes.” I said trying to focus on the controls he neglected on purpose when I was there.

“And you’re down with this?”

“Yes, Joker.”

“Why is that?”

“Because Liara is our friend and that’s what friends do. They help each other” I said flatly.

“Ok. Good answer. Glad we had this talk.” He said going back to the controls as I stood and left the bridge to meet Shepard and Liara down with the KODIAK.

 

“How’s Joker?” Shepard asked as we settled in orbit.

“Joker is Joker” I said with a shrug. “He doesn’t like what the weather looks like down there”

“It’s normal for this planet. Once we get down there it shouldn’t be too difficult to find the Broker’s ship.” Liara said checking her pistol.

“Then let’s get going. The sooner we can end this the better.” Shepard said as we all made our way to the KODIAK.

 

Once we broker through the planet’s atmosphere all we had to do was follow the worst of the lightning storms. Liara was able to spot the ship before Shepard and I. it seemed to be moving with the storm and inside it. “Why is the world is he in the storm?” Shepard asked as we got closer.

“To keep himself hidden, I suppose it works. It appears he’s using the lightning as a way to help power his ship.” Liara explained.

“I have a bad feeling about this Shepard.” I said when we landed on the back of the ship.

Shepard let out her usually huff of agreement when the door to the KODIAK opened. We headed out into the storm. It would certainly be a challenge to get inside; especially with Shadow Broker agents waiting for us.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys. i got the Department Manager position at my work. so updates may be sparsed out further than they already are. but i will still be updating. so no worries there, just a couple sentences at a time when i get off of work at the end of the day. hope you all enjoyed and i really do appreciate all of you :D


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lair of the Shadow Broker. Shepard and the Team face off. Told from Nihlus's POV so he gets knocked out. So sorry _-_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not mine. I just play with the characters and give the cannon divergence. 
> 
> miss me huh?
> 
> I missed me too. Lots of IRL issues. still dealing but i managed to finish this chapter. the block is almost gone. but vacay ends tonight and work begins again tomorrow. 
> 
> please enjoy this current chapter ^-^

“Hagalaz, a planet where the oceans freeze and boil, and near the twilight band is a constant maelstrom. The Broker uses that to his advantage to stay hidden. Following the storm.” Liara explained as we made our way to the Shadow Broker’s ship in the KODIAK. “Once we get onto the surface of the hull we need to find a hatch in order to get inside. It would be wise to find it as soon as possible though; due to the extreme winds and lightning.”

“Should be easy enough; find the hatch to get inside and try not to get electrocuted in the process” Shepard said with a toothy grin. I had to shake my head at this. We were taking an extreme risk going after Liara’s friend especially the Shadow Broker.

“Hopefully when this is all over I can at least let the council know that the Shadow Broker will not be a problem anymore.” I said taking a look at my OMNI-Tool.

“I’m sure the council will be most pleased” Liara said curtly.

“All right now let’s not bring in the politics. We go in rescue Feron, take out the Shadow Broker in the process and get back to the Normandy in time for Rupert’s cooking” Shepard said as the hatch to the KODIAK opened hovering just above the hull of the Broker’s ship. Liara and Shepard proceeded to go into conversation about food, and well a janitor is able to make something that is actually edible for a crew of aliens and humans alike. I managed to drown most of it out over the thunder and constant fear of getting shocked by the lightning that never seemed to end.

“I am unable to get a visual but I am picking up a massive communications array towards the back of the ship.” Liara called over the thunder and lightning. “We’ll have to go through the maintenance catwalks to get to where we are going”

“Walk in the park” Shepard commented.

“A park with very bad weather looming over it” I grumbled.

“Why are you like this?” she asked.

“No particular reason”

“Right”

“Come on you two, the more time we spend out here the less time Feron has” Liara said moving past us down the catwalk in the direction we needed to be heading.

“So are those maintenance drones or what?” Shepard asked

“Looks like attack drones”

“They must think that we’re debris from the storm”

“Let’s take them out then before they become a problem” I said taking cover next to Shepard. Within a couple of volleys the drones had been dispatched and we made our way up to the top of the ship near the lightning rods that diverted the lightning. 

“Shepard? Where is she?” Liara asked looking around when we reached the top.

“Being a scavenger” I said leaning against one of the railings.

“Why?”

“We aren’t funded by the Alliance or the Council on this mission. I’ve already spent most of what I had saved for a bigger apartment for better gear on this trip.” I explained.

“What about the Illusive Man?” she asked “I’m sure if he had the credits to help Shepard recover and build a new Normandy, then should he at least be providing some kind of compensation?”

“No funding from his end means no paper trail to trace back to him and his involvement in this whole debacle.” I said as Shepard finally made her way up to join us.

“Found 3,000 credits and some scrap Tali can probably sell when we stop in at Omega next” Shepard said with a giant grin on her face. I looked at Liara and raised an eyebrow ‘ _See what I mean?’_

“Goddess help the poor soul that marries you Shepard” Liara chuckled as we made our way into cover getting ready for The Shadow Broker’s troops.

“What does she mean by that?” Shepard asked over our private channel.

“I’ll tell you later” I told her taking cover near one of the rods.

 

Between the lightning, thunder, Vanguards, engineers, and general Shadow Broker troops; it was hard to actually tell what was worse when we eventually got to the door. Days like this made me wish the Reapers never existed and we could be peacefully on the Citadel or doing a patrol elsewhere. “No guard rails. Patrolling the outside like this must be fun” Shepard had to comment.

“At least the view is nice” Liara countered. I could feel the head ache getting worse. “We’ll have to hack the door”

“Whatever happened to good ol’ Omni-gel?”

“Changes in security over the past two years Shepard, for people like you with no hacking skills” I explained.

“Har har har”

“Alright we’re set, just press the center button and it should work” Liara said making sure the hacking disc was in place on the door.

“How long do you think it’ll take?” Shepard asked.

“Long enough that we’ll actually have to fight and keep the area clear and unhindered while it works” Liara explained as the first wave of troops made their way to try and stop us from making our way inside.

The first wave fell giving us a small break as Shepard darted out to loot for thermal clips and whatever else she could find. I stayed in cover near the door as Liara made sure to cover Shepard’s back just in case the next set of troops decided a sneak attack on the Commander would be a good idea. Once this with the Shadow Broker was done Liara and I would have to have another talk about what she did. Until then I would let it rest. She and Shepard had earned some time to sort things out among themselves as well to clear the air between them. Shepard just wants her friends back, and I can’t entirely blame her. “Nihlus?” Shepard asked over our private channel.

“Yeah Shepard?”

“You’re being awfully quiet”

“You seem to be making up for it, as always” I said trying to keep my tone light.

“Jerk”

“Get back here, I think the next wave is on its way” I said lining up my sights with the next body ready to drop.

 

“Four waves of troops. Four waves” I say as the door finally chimes that it has been successfully hacked and we can enter the Shadow Broker’s ship.

“Just think, that much less we have to deal with inside” Shepard said putting a patch on her shoulder armor.

“Inside should not be as bad. But we should stay alert just in case we over estimate ourselves.” Liara commented pocketing her little hacking device as the door slid open to let us in.

“You didn’t help T’Soni” I said remembering her comment about if the mercs had all attacked at once, if they were smart.

“They didn’t take my advice, so thank the Goddess for that” she countered.

“C’mon you two, enough; let’s go get Feron and take out the Shadow Broker and be back on our way home in time for Joker’s Blasto movie night” Shepard said helping me up after giving my leg a good dose of Medi-gel.

“We’ll never catch a break will we?” I asked

“Just you wait mister, when all of this is done. You and me; nothing will get in our way of taking the longest vacation we can get” Shepard smiled under her helmet. I wanted to believe her words. Something inside screamed at me that this was only the beginning.

Inside we were greeted by more of the Broker’s troops. The interior was almost a maze. Cover was hard to come by with all the odd angles that came with the layout of the ship. We had eventually come to a door that Liara managed to bypass while Shepard and I took out the rest of the Broker’s forces. Once the door was open Liara was out like a bullet to try and release her drell friend only resulting in shocking him. “Don’t!” the Drell called after being shocked by the contraption he had been strapped to.

“What has the Shadow Broker done to you?”

“Made sure that I don’t say anything I’m not supposed to.” Feron explained “If I’m pulled out of this thing now my brain will literally fry. You need to cut the power in the central ops room”

“This just got complicated Liara” Shepard said.

“I know, but Shepard please we have to get him out of there”

“We will, we will, we just have to think this out a little bit more than I thought we would have to” Shepard said as she started to ask Feron some questions. Every answer resulting in a shock to the Drell.

“I think we’ve gotten enough Intel Shepard, we need to find a way to cut the power and finish this” I said turning to make my way to the door when a Vanguard decided to throw a shockwave in my direction. A quick shot caught her off guard as the three of us tried out best to scramble for some sort of cover.

“Looks like you’re going to need glasses when we get back to the Citadel” Shepard chuckled.

“You try landing a headshot with a shockwave rushing past your face” I said dispatching one of the agents that had accompanied the Vanguard. It did not take too much longer to dispatch what was left before making our way out and to a door that was now unlocked.

One more agent and we were on our way to taking out the Broker once and for all.

 

Once inside the Broker’s office none of us was expecting what we found. No agents, no troops, no anything waiting for us but the Broker himself, sitting at a single desk in the middle of the room. “I assume you and Dr. T’Soni are here for the Drell, Commander Shepard?” the creature asked. We looked at each other. I couldn’t place the race, Liara may have, but Shepard and I were in the dark on this one. “Taking such reckless actions to get here; is that how you won at Elysium? The Citadel?”

“You don’t know a damned thing” Shepard growled. “I got the jobs done and saved people”

“I’m sure. How many died in the process though once you were given Spectre clearance?” it asked.

“Go to hell” was Shepard’s answer. Simple. We’d all be there soon enough if she didn’t have conscious control over her temper.

“Give us Feron now” Liara jumped in before more could be said.

“And you Doctor. Was it not your actions that put your Drell friend in his current position?” The Broker said moving on the Liara. “The Collectors still have a bounty out for Shepard’s body. I still very much intend to collect”

“You will regret this. Give us Feron and we may at least think about sending you back to the Council for trial” Liara said.

“And you Nihlus Kyrik. Letting that village burn just for the sake of the mission; no trouble getting you talons dirty for the Council. So many lives lost that day, and for what?” The Broker said. Trying to hit home; you’re getting warmer to having a heat sink in your skull. “You’re no better than The Blue Suns or Blood Pack, and that is just on your own”

I kept my finger on the trigger, kept my temper and anger in check. I could feel Shepard glance over at me. I was not going to let this, whatever it was ruin who I was now. Past is the past. My plates twitched at the rising anger and bile in my gut. As long as I stayed put until Shepard started shooting then we’d be ok. As it talked it was getting harder and harder to keep my rifle down. “Keep talking, you won’t get very far” I said feeling the venom in my voice, feeling my mind go back to a time where I wasn’t trying to make some sort of semblance of a good life with someone that I loved.

“I don’t need to go too much farther. Bringing your secrets to light is a little more interesting than the Doctor since I know all of her secrets.” The Broker said disregarding Liara completely.

“I know what you are though” Liara spoke up. “You are a Yahg. Most likely taken from your world as a trophy of some sort, possibly a slave or pet” That last word had hit the Broker as Liara kept going. Shepard and I raised our weapons as the Broker stood. Easily enraged, not sure if that was a good or bad thing if we encountered his race later on down the line.

Once the Broker stood and destroyed the only thing between him and us; all I could remember was being knocked out by said desk and waking up in the med bay. Shepard snoozing in a chair next to my current sleeping arrangements. “Oh good you’re awake. You took a pretty bad hit down there Nihlus” Chakwas commented from her desk. “Conscious long enough to make sure Shepard and Liara weren’t crushed by your weight when you all finally returned.

“Is Shepard…?”

“A few scrapes and bruises as per her usual. Nothing too serious. Dr. T’Soni is actually waiting for the two of you back on the Broker’s ship once Shepard wakes.” Chakwas said softly coming over to run a scan of me careful not to wake Shepard.

“Thank you doc” I said looking up at the ceiling.

“It’s my job” she said with a motherly smile.

 

Later Shepard and I found ourselves on the Broker’s Ship. Liara was the new Shadow Broker. “Not sure how I’m going to explain this to the Council.” I said as we walked up to the door to main operations.

“Then don’t” Shepard said smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress.

“Shepard”

“No. This is something that can work to our advantage and we don’t need the Council or the Alliance getting their noses involved. We keep this between you, me and Liara and the Normandy Crew, you hear me?” She explained turning to face me before Liara decided to speak from the monitor.

“Have you explained things to them?”

“Yes. And all is as it should be” She said.

“All right. You win. I won’t open my big mouth”

“Thank you”

“You’ll compensate me later anyway”

“Dog”

“I love you”

“I know” She said turning around to face the monitor with Liara smiling down at us.

“I’m glad you two could make it. Hurry come inside, I have so much to show you” Liara said.

We found Feron taking some time to himself in a back room to recover from being in that chair. I took time to break away from them to look over the ship and all that we had access to now. Resources, credits, and the flow of events to work for us instead of against us; maybe this could work to our advantage against the Reapers and the Collectors. Maybe the Council didn’t need to know. I looked over to see Shepard gush over a V.I. that had once been the personal assistant to the previous Broker. She and Liara were going over things. Shepard was right. The Council and the Alliance didn’t need to know about this.

We were allowed our secrets from their ever watchful eyes.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really do hope you all enjoyed this current chapter. i know it took me a long time to get done and all but adulting and stuff and yeah. again thank you all for reading, you guys make this possible and every thing.
> 
> until the next chapter :D


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a small interlude. Liara visits the Normandy and Nihlus gets a weird message from a fellow Spectre.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> small chapter is small. wanted to do another little chapter with Liara before moving on to other stuff. 
> 
> I don't own ME i just write and play around with the characters

Grunt, Zaeed, Jack and I stood in the cargo hold and watched Garrus, Tali and Amalia greet Liara like nothing had ever happened. It was hard to forget what had happened but they managed to make it look as if it were easy. “What have you been up aside from being on Illium that is; Keelah it is good to see you again” Tali babbled on giving Liara a hug

“Will you be joining us in saving the galaxy again?” Garrus asked

“Unfortunately not this round. Shepard and I have already discussed that matter” Liara said with a pleasant smile.

“C’mon we’ll give you a tour and introduce you to everyone” Shepard said linking arms with Liara and walking over to our little chopped liver group.

“So you’re the new Shadow Broker, eh?” Zaeed asked looking as unimpressed as the day I met him myself.

“Yes, that would be a correct assumption Mr. Massani” Liara answered in her usual cool tone.

“Fine by me, about time more women ran the show around this galaxy” Jack said hopping off of her perch and heading to her room.

“You helped Shepard defeat a Yahg. Was it a bloody fight? Are they even worth fighting? C’mon give us details, Shepard won’t talk she thinks I’ll run off and try to find one” Grunt asked. Maybe heading to Tuchunka would be a good idea as soon as we were done on Illium.

“I actually cannot say to be honest; it was a hard won fight that is for sure but it Shepard is wise in keeping you here on the Normandy for the time being” she explained.

“You’re no fun. Good luck with that one Nihlus” Grunt said turning to go back to his little corner of the ship.

“Interesting little bunch so far aren’t they?” Amalia chuckled nervously.

“Don’t worry they won’t be telling the council. The only one we might have to worry about is Lawson” I explained when Zaeed had finally gotten the hint to book it back near the compactor.

“I’m not worried” Liara commented as her, Tali, Garrus and Amalia made their way to the elevator. I watched as they stopped to talk to EDI for a minute then disappeared when the door shut.

 

I had made my way to mine and Amalia’s cabin to wait for them there. It would be the last place on the tour eventually. I sat thinking to myself whether or not it would be prudent to bring up past events again or just let them go as everyone else has. Amalia was back, yes; but what of the things that had been done right under my nose to achieve those goals? It was difficult not to open a channel to the Council and give them a brief on what had happened. For Amalia I didn’t.

_BING_

The sound had come from the monitor on the desk. It was from Avitus. What did he want? “Nihlus?”

“What do you need Avitus?”

“Just wanted to let you know that I’m going to be leaving the Spectres” he said. That was not something that you heard every day.

“And you’re telling me why?”

“Since Saren, you pretty much run the show with Shepard and have things covered with as many Spectres as there is” He explained. “The council knows I’m leaving, just wanted to give you a heads up.”

“Avitus Rix. What in the name of everything are you trying to say?” I asked once more to try to get an explanation out of him.

“Just wanted to let you know boss, we got to go” and then the screen went blank as the door opened with Amalia and Liara walking in.

“Hello again Nihlus.” Liara said walking in to look over my shoulder with Amalia.

“Who were you talking to?” Amalia asked.

“…no one, it’s not important. So, how do you like the new Normandy?” I asked standing and walking down into the small common area we had.

“It’s nice. They certainly spared no expense. Joker seems happy aside from the AI” Liara said as we all sat on the couch.

“Yeah, they had exchanged a few words when they met, but EDI has been really helpful so he really can’t complain any more than he already does.” Amalia said taking off her shoes.

“I am sorry about what happened with Ashley.” Liara said

“Yeah, well whatever. I don’t really want to talk about it.” Amalia said curling up at my side.

“What about you Nihlus? I know you have some burning thoughts in that tactful mind of yours” Liara asked trying to change the subject.

“I forgive you, Liara.”

Her and Amalia looked at me as I stared into the fish tank. They were dead again. Amalia rested her head on my shoulder and Liara gave a small what seemed to be satisfied smile. To say it felt like fire. Better to have it said and move one. What’s done is done and I can’t exactly change that. “Thank you Nihlus. It means a lot to me.” Liara said leaning back. I’m more than sure her and Amalia had talked about it on the way up here.

The three of us at in silence for a few moments before we heard that Amalia had dozed off on us. My arm was asleep as well. “I can’t exactly show you out Liara” I said trying to rearrange Amalia to where I could pick her up.

“It’s all right. She doesn’t get much sleep does she?”

“No, not for a while” I said. Liara smiled and gave Amalia a small kiss on her forehead as I managed to pick her up.

“I’ll have Tali and Garrus show me out. It was good to see you all again, and to meet the new faces. If I find anything on the Collectors I’ll be sure to send it to you and Shepard.” She said with a sad smile and made her way to the door.

“It was good to see you too Liara, and thank you” I whispered setting Amalia on the bed so she could sleep more comfortably.

 

Later that night I sat at the desk, watching Amalia sleep and thinking about the vid call that I had received from Avitus. Liara always knew more than she let on even before becoming the Shadow Broker. Could she know about what Avitus was talking about? Likely but if it was something we needed to worry about she would have told us. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. This was getting to be too much even for me, how the hell is Amalia managing to stay even halfway positive about it all I often wondered; even now.

“Nihlus….? Nihlus?! NIHLUS!?” Amalia called out shooting straight up in bed

“I’m here. I’m here” I said rushing to her side. “What’s wrong?” she looked pale.

She looked at me with wide eyes before throwing her arms around my neck. Another nightmare. This was going to be a long ride. “Hey, EDI said Shepard was screaming, and not the good kind of scream, but you know” Joker’s voice came over the intercom.

“I just had a nightmare, Joker. I’m good” she said lying back down.

“Are you sure?”

“Joker.” I warned.

“Okay. Just wanted to make sure. Joker out” the com blipped off.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” I asked

“Yeah, just freaked out a little that’s all. No big.” She said pulling the covers over herself.

I took a deep breath and sighed. Settling in behind her, I turned on my data pad. It was going to be another fun night as I began to read an article from the Citadel News network. Hard times were on their way.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this little chapter. next chapter will be a little bigger for sure. so i'll be working on that later today and tomorrow before returning to work. 
> 
> later all and thank you :)


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard helps Garrus go after Sidonis. Nihlus kind of tags along. 
> 
>  
> 
> Nihlus POV :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Start of the side mission Loyalty chapters here we go!  
> Told from Nihlus POV   
> Enjoy!

“Sidonis? That’s who this is all about?” I asked Garrus pinching the bridge of my nose. Shepard was asleep and I did not want to wake her up.

“Yes Nihlus, Sidonis. This just isn’t about me it’s about what he did to the people we worked with” Garrus growled out.

“First of all Garrus you all were a group on Omega…”

“Doing the jobs that you and the other Spectres won’t touch, actually doing good for the station”

“The only place you wouldn’t be tied down by the bureaucratic red tape, yes I know.” I said exasperated with the whole thing. “Got you the name Archangel. I know the story by now Garrus.” 

“Shepard is the only one I really trust to be with me on this Nihlus” Garrus said

“Only because she can’t say no to you Garrus”

“Nihlus please I have a lead and if we don’t go the Citadel now we might lose the lead before we can even get ahead of it” He growled out again. This wasn’t like Garrus. Granted he got riled up during the whole thing with Saren, and the Salarian doctor, but his sub vocals were beyond any rage I’ve ever heard.

“What’s the name of your lead?” I asked leaning against the cabin door trying to keep my voice low.

“Goes by the name of Fade; apparently he helps people disappear.” Garrus explained doing his best to follow my lead in keeping our voices down.

I looked at him, mulling over what could come of this. Amalia usually is the only one that has been able to talk him down from anything and everything. His intent was to kill Sidonis. After Omega and getting three of the bloodiest gangs after him I hope her was ready to live with actually hunting and killing someone down. I took a deep breath and shook my head. There was no talking him down from me. If he wanted this so bad, I wasn’t going to be the one to stop him. “Get in contact with this Fade; I’ll go over things with Amalia. I’ll see what I can do with C-Sec” I told him

“Thank you, Nihlus, I promise you and Shepard won’t regret this”

“Make sure that we don’t Garrus, because if you actually go through with this; you’re the one that is going to have to live with it” my voice stern as I stood and set my sights on him. “If things go wrong, you don’t blame Amalia, do you understand?” he wasn’t that much younger than me, but I would still tear him to shreds. Hopefully my sub vocals made that much clear.

“I understand.” He said hurrying to the elevator to make his way back to the main battery.

When I entered the cabin, Amalia was at the desk going through messages and reports. She more than likely heard some of the exchange between Garrus and I, but that was all right, at least we were going to help him. “Why is Avitus leaving the Spectres?” she asked looking at his formal letter to the Council.

“Not sure, he wouldn’t say much except he and his partner got a better deal somewhere else” I responded running my talons lightly over her arms and shoulders.

“How can you get any better than the Spectres?”

“Not sure really, someone must have really convinced them otherwise” I said breathing in the scent of her bed tussled hair.

“Well I guess all the luck to them, whatever they’re going to be doing now.” She said leaning back in the chair. “What did Garrus want?”

“He has a lead that can get him to confront Sidonis. We need to leave as soon as you’re able or the trail goes cold and Garrus will never settle down” I explained resting my chin on her head.

“Then let’s get moving. EDI tell Joker to set a course for the Citadel” Amalia said typing something up quickly.

“Yes, Shepard” the A.I.’s disembodied voice said. We felt the ship alter course “When you are ready Commander we are on our way to the relay. Galaxy map will be ready whenever you are ready.”

“Amalia.”

“Yeah?”

“Try to talk him out of killing Sidonis if you can. If you can’t, he’s the one that has to live with it, not you” I told her.

“I know I’ll do my best to talk him out of it” she smiled bringing her arm up and putting a hand around my neck. “Are you going to come along with us?”

“No. Chakwas made it clear after getting hit by that Yagh I’m to sit out for a couple missions. Besides I’m in no mood to deal with Garrus if he decides to go over the edge” I explained giving her a quick kiss and moving away towards the bed.

“So you leave me to deal with an over the edge angry as all hell Turian?” she asked getting up to pull on her under suit.

“I have faith in you” I said

“You’ll come along when we go get the IFF though right?”

“Of course I’ll go on that mission. If I go on this one we might lose Garrus. So, for once I’m going to follow doctor’s orders and try to relax.” I said lying down and staring at the ceiling.

“Yes, please at least try to relax” Amalia said leaning over me and smiling. “We should be back before long” With a quick kiss she was gone armor clanking as she put it on, on her way out the door.

I waited. Longer than I thought I should have before heading down to the cargo hold. “EDI”

“Yes, Nihlus?”

“Make sure no one comes down here and cut monitors to the shuttles com systems” I said as I closed the door behind me.

“May I ask as to why?” The A.I. sure was nosey.

“No. Just do it” I said opening a vid com channel to Liara.

“Yes, Nihlus” EDI said once the connection was complete to the old Shadow Broker’s ship.

“Nihlus…? This is about Avitus and his partner correct?” Liara asked.

“You nailed it. Give me all the info you and your…predecessor had or have” I demanded.

“It isn’t much Nihlus, that much I know for sure. I’ll give you what’s here. Where is Shepard?” she asked noticing my surroundings.

“She’s off with Garrus and Grunt at the Citadel.”

“Will you tell her?”

“As soon as I have some kind of idea what’s going on myself.” I responded

She looked at me. It wasn’t like me to keep secrets, especially from Amalia; but this was something that needed as much info as I could find before telling her that something odd was going on. Soon after going over what we both had, I had myself a reasonable database. It needed more info than what we had; I had faith in Liara she would find out more. She was now the Shadow Broker after all.

An old N7 by the name of Ryder; I’ve heard that name before somewhere. And a Jien Garson were the two names that popped up the most. Heading up the Andromeda Initiative. “Thanks Liara”

“I’ll let you know if I find anything more. Also make sure you go over this with Shepard. I know she has a lot on her plate, but this might give her not to lose faith in herself.” Liara said before the com cut out and I took the OSD from the console in the shuttle.

“Yeah.” I mumbled to myself making my way out and to the elevator back to the bridge.

 

“Hey Nihlus, where have you been? You’re missing all the action! And Garrus almost killed Harkin!” Joker exclaimed as I took my seat next to him to watch from Amalia’s helmet.

“Harkin?” I asked not believing what I was hearing. “Why didn’t he?” a ping on my OMNI-tool from C-Sec and how to proceed with the human from Bailey.

“The Commander stopped him. But damn he is in a rage isn’t he? Are you sure Turians can’t get blood rage like Krogan??” Joker kept chattering as I sent a quick reply to Bailey on how to proceed with Harkin and his sorry ass. I barely heard what was happening next. Inside the vehicle they were in Amalia tried to talk Garrus down from taking out Sidonis and letting me come in and take care of it. Garrus was not having that in the least. He let it known he was going to do this, and just wanted Amalia’s support on his side in the issue. As usual, Amalia did her best but in the end this was a battle she wasn’t going to win. Garrus pointed out his vantage point and had Amalia go down and get Sidonis talking so Garrus could take his shot. “You’re going to let him take the shot?” I asked over our private channel.

“Like you said, he’s the one that has to live with it” She said walking up to a Turian that must have been Sidonis, and began talking to him.

Joker and I watched as Amalia moved and within a blink Sidonis was down. She had gotten better at her stealth game as she managed to get away before C-Sec was on the scene. “Meet you on the Normandy” Garrus said as he left Amalia and Grunt to their own devices.

“Did he really just leave us here?” Grunt asked

“Yeah, c’mon let’s get some supplies then head back” Amalia said shaking her head before they walked off to the markets.

 

We heard Garrus before we had seen him. He would have been perfect for the Heavy battalion on Palaven if he stomped any louder down the hall of the Normandy. Joker and I both turned to see my fellow Turian head to the elevator and disappear down to the crew deck. Most likely going down to the main battery. “Wow…I know I said I liked the new Garrus but I think I want some of the old Garrus back” Joker commented turning back to the controls of the ship.

“Leave him be until Amalia talks to him.” I said going back to my terminals.

“Why? Shouldn’t you like talk to him? You’re a Turian, you might know more about what can calm him down”

“I might also kill him” I said plainly. I could see Joker turn pale at my comment.

“You know Shepard would kill you in return right?” he asked

“You really think she would?”

“No, but you really wouldn’t kill Garrus would you?”

“No, Joker. I won’t really kill Garrus.”

“Oh good”

“I’ll just maim him”

“You’re sick man”

“Then we wait for Amalia to calm him down, or for him to calm down by himself.” I said typing away at some reports for the Citadel, as well as trying to cover Garrus’s tracks in killing Sidonis. Shepard and the rest of the team came aboard not too long after. Grunt carrying most of the supplies.

“Garrus in the main battery?” she asked setting some stuff down for Chambers to look through.

“Yeah, he cooling down. You let him take the shot?” I asked walking up to them.

“I did. Did you manage to cover his tracks?”

“I did. But that isn’t what’s worrying me” I said leaning on the Galaxy map.

“He’ll be fine. It was just something that needed to be done. I won’t always be there to talk him down I guess and he needs to sort of live with that” Amalia said setting her helmet down.

“I told Joker you’d talk to Garrus, set him straight.”

“What else did you tell him?”

“Nothing”

“Then why didn’t you go talk to him?”

“Not one for that sort of thing. You’re better with words anyway” I said talking what looked like her personal things and heading to the elevator to the Cabin.

“You’re impossible. Joker let’s head to Pragia next” I heard her say before the doors closed to the elevator. Jack would be next in a long line of missions to make sure they stayed on track. When this is over there will be a nice long vacation in it for Amalia and I that is for sure.

 

  * \- -   -   -



 

“This looks like a planet I could get used to” I remarked as we entered the atmosphere to the planet where Cerberus had their facility at one point. Covered in vegetation and what seemed to be a perpetual thunder storm. Amalia just gave me a weak smile then turned her attention to Jack; her eyes glazed over as we drew close to the old facility.

“Cerberus built this place to last, even with the constant over growth cause of the rain. It gets so bad that they have the landing pad on the roof of the building. So many things happened, testing and experimentation; I’ll be glad when I get to blow it to smithereens” Jack said watching the rain pelt the outside of the KODIAK.

“Commander, I am detecting multiple thermal signatures from inside the complex. The landing pad is clear however” EDI said over the comm.

“Time to crash the party?” Amalia asked. I shook my head and waited until we landed.

I didn’t mind the wet or the overgrown greenery. If it wasn’t for the Teltin Cerberus facility it might be a good place to live after all of this is said and done. The overall feel of the place was off putting and I’ve done things in my past but what these people have done to children no less. “I don’t remember this room or all these containers…this can’t be right” Jack said more to herself than Amalia or I.

“Maybe with your escape you couldn’t” Amalia said trying to hack a console. I heard her small cheer and notice 3,000 credits appear in the account.

“There could have been a decent amount going on I suppose” I said noting the disarray and chaos that had remained untouched for so long.

“Maybe…”

In the next room we made it to a console that gave us some info on the facility and what happened. The people at the facility were apparently acting outside the orders of the Illusive Man and had started to do things their own way. Going rogue never turns out well, for anyone most of the time at least. When the console was turned off we made our way through to another room with broken in skylights. Jack commented on how she could see the sun from then, and how it was her first time that she had seen sunlight all those years ago. It was hard for me to believe that is practically feral biotic was just once a scared little girl. What other atrocities had Cerberus committed against their own kind in the name of progress?

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologies that this took so long. honestly life is in the way but this had been a good stress relief to finish.   
> Thank you all as always for reading, this would not be possible without you   
> until next time :D


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loyalty Mission Subject Zero and the start of Tali's loyalty mission "Treason"   
> Fun, guns, sarcastic wit and witty banter for some parts 
> 
> Nihlus POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> O_O two chapters within so many days of each other? GASP! I know unheard of! but here it is please enjoy
> 
> I don't own anything I just like to play around with the characters

“I still want a varren” Shepard commented after we dispatched some wild varren that had jumped us in the next room.

“We are not getting a damned varren” I grumbled holstering my weapon.

“Can you two like do that somewhere else, like your room, when this place is sky high” Jack said joining us at the door to the next area.

“I’m getting a varren or a cat or a bird” Shepard said sitting down for a minute. I rolled my eyes bringing up the scanner on my Omni-tool. What was worrying me was the fact that we hadn’t come across any other people that EDI had said were here. None of this felt right. EDI’s scans are usually right on the dot. When we were able to move forward there was a blood stain that had been almost ingrained into the floor. There was also a set up that looked like it was used for fights.

“What was this used for?” I asked when we came to get a closer look.

“Looks like some an arena…?” Amalia said getting a closer look at the blood. “I know sometimes there were a few fight clubs between soldiers but Jack, what the hell?”

“It was an arena. They would pit again other kids. If I won I got rewarded, mostly drugged. If I hesitated I got a shock. It was fun for the assholes running the place but not the kids so much.” Jack explained.

“Jack I admit I’ve done some pretty heinous things but never involving children like this.”  I added as she practically zoned out looking at the make-shift arena where she would fight the other kids that used to be here.

“Yeah well I enjoyed it” she snarled and began to move on ahead.

Amalia gave me a worried look before standing up and walking over to an old console.

“The subjects have started a riot and Subject Zero has gotten out! Attention! Do not kill Jack! All others are expendable! But do not harm Jack!” the console said before Jack herself turns off the console.

“Must have been some riot” I said watching it flicker off.

“They came after me, I was defending myself” Jack said

“Why?” Amalia asked

“Scorched earth it seems like” I explained simply.

“Forget it lets just move on” Jack grumbled moving toward the door.

Amalia and I gave each other a shrug. It was best to let Jack work through all of this in her own time. From what could be seen her escape was chaos. Hopefully whatever she had planned for this place would give her peace of mind. As we met up with Jack we noticed her inspecting something on the floor. A dead Varren. Not from either of us, too far in from where we had fought the rest of the pack. “What is it Jack?” Amalia asked.

“This kill is fresh. There shouldn’t be anyone else here but us.” Jack said a hint of panic in her voice.

“So EDI’s reading were more than just Varren?”

“Almost always is” I said checking my scans of the area again. “With all the rain I can’t get a clear reading on what any of the other thermal signatures could be”

“Whoever the hell is here is going up with the rest of the place then. Let’s go plant that bomb already.” Jack said as Amalia began to bypass the door to the next area.

It wasn’t long before we were being shot at. There was a ‘mother fucker’ from Amalia and more strings of curses from Jack as we dropped for cover. I knew this place smelled off. Blood Pack was here, but why? We quickly took out the Vorcha on the bridge over head before moving onto the Krogan and his Pyro. When they all were taken care of a second wave broke in through the window. “Keep them busy so I can get a clear shot of that Vorcha’s flame tank” I said taking out my rifle.

“Be quick about it will ya?!” Amalia said over under her cover trying to keep the Krogan away from us.

With a quick aim and an even quicker shot there was an explosion and a few dead Vorcha. The battle was done within a few moments even though it felt as if it had taken at least an hour. Jack was off to the side questioning why this facility had a morgue. “I would think it would be to keep the dead until they could be moved” I commented coming up to her and Amalia. Amalia turned her head quicker than I had ever seen giving me the deadliest of looks.

“…until they could be moved?! No! This place was not like that, they did horrible things not only to be but the kids here! You think they kept the dead to be moved?! They experimented on them, they tortured us and I bet you fucking money that they used the dead for experiments they used on me!” Jack exclaimed and pointed at my carapace. “Got a real winner here Shepard!”

“I see that” Amalia said giving me a flat look.

“Let’s just get a move on” Jack said lowering her voice walking away from me.

“It was a better thought than the reality” I said as Amalia walked up to me.

“I know but humans cope differently than Turians, you know this. I may be able to get by with good intentioned words but Jack is different. Like really different” She explained.

I should know this by now. I spend as much time around humans as I do any of my own kind. I flicked my mandibles at her and she smiled before moving on to following to the door to bypass. Still a learning experience that was for sure. “Damn Shepard get it right!” Jack exclaimed as Amalia failed to get through the door the first time.

“Oh cram it! You aren’t any better at this that I am!”

“Move over!”

I watched them fiddle at the door before I finally pressed a few buttons on my Omni-tool and the door slid open. Both women looked at the door then to each other and shrugged before going through. Moving down the next hall, it was eerily quiet even though I could smell the Vorcha from where ever they were hiding. Eventually the Vorcha appeared on the catwalk above us when we came to a set of stairs. They were quickly dispatched only to have more Varren charge us as we came into the next dormitory area; which were also quickly taken care of. “This is kind of spooky when you think about it” Amalia commented peeking into one of the cells.

“These living conditions are worse than a prison’s” I said looking over her shoulder into the cell.

“You would know, you’re the Spectre” Jack sniped. I gave her a flat look as Amalia looked up at me and gave a small laugh before noticing something shiny.

“Found some credits” she said standing up and joining Jack at the end of the hallway. I followed after, there weren’t many credits to be found but what was found we could possibly get some new mods for at least some of our weapons and maybe some resources. Crossing the catwalk Jack stopped confused for a moment looking at a large window.

“That…isn’t right” she said “It was a two way mirror? My cell is on the other side of that thing. I could see the other kids and would bang on the windows; they never heard or paid any attention to me.”

Moving along we came to a rather complicated interrogation chair before moving to the next room. I heard Jack comment on how she must have broken through here when she made her escape. There were two consoles further in; one of them noted how the other children or ‘subjects’ suffered here at this cursed place. Being exposed to gasses, chemicals, and freezing temperatures among other things all in order to develop Jack into a powerful biotic.  “That’s…by the maker” Amalia said looking as if she might throw up what little food she actually had in her.

“No, no this isn’t right. I can’t believe that they were put through this because of me!” Jack denied “There was no way they had it worse than I did, no way in fucking hell”

I cut off the first console then started the other one. This one showed a distressed doctor. He commented on the riot of the others and how Jack may escape during all of the commotion. “…transferring to piggy back on the Alliance Ascension Project…Jack!? Wait! No!” with that the transmission ends as what seemed to be a young Jack coming up and ending the facility doctor.

“Shepard they…they sent the rest of the kids to another facility, we have to do something…” Jack started before Amalia stopped her.

“The Ascension Project is a part of the Alliance. They train human biotics to properly use their powers. No experimentation.” Amalia tried to calm her down, it seemed to be working. “A friend of mine had gone there. They’re tough in some areas but mostly used to educate.”

“So none of what went on here?”

“If they did then I’m sure something would have been done. I will send word to Anderson and see if he can get in touch with his contacts to see if her can make sure all is well” Amalia said explaining to Jack how the Alliance’s Ascension Project worked. I had heard of it myself; a place where human biotics could learn to use their powers under the supervision of other trained biotics. It was trial and error for most humans when biotics first came around, this way they can teach not only from their mistakes but also proper ways to deal with being a biotic. On Palaven the females were the ones who mostly were born with biotic ability and were usually sent off to fight in the Cabals after sometime in basic. Not many males had biotic ability. I guess it would have made life for me worse if I had been born with such powers. Shipped off sooner. “You ready Nihlus?” Amalia asked once she had calmed Jack down.

“Yeah, let’s get a move on” I said moving past them to the door to wait on them. I could hear Jack ask what was up with me; I chose to ignore it. We all had our issues. I heard Amalia say she found some old schematics for some sort of upgrade before her and Jack joined me at the door to the next room where the leader of this particular Blood Pack gang was stationed.

“Aresh, its Kureck, yeah, they’re here…what do you want me to do with them…got it, but after I’m done you and I have to talk credits, Aresh.” the Krogan said into his comm.

We took cover as they began to open fire on us. We would have to keep our distance for the moment until we could get rid of enough to move up. Amalia had brought Collector Particle gun she had found and had begun to unleash that when she could as we covered her. A few of the Blood Pack Vorcha managed to get a couple good hits in when we pushed forward to get a better shot at Kureck. Vorcha were easily dispatched, the Krogan, not so much. “I’m out of power cells” Amalia called over the fire fight.

“Shit this guy means business doesn’t he? Well fuck him!” Jack growled unleashing as much of her power as she was able without it getting out of control.

“If you can knock him down and keep him down a while, it’ll give Amalia and me a chance to get in close” I suggested as she unleashed a shockwave in the Kureck’s direction.

“I’ll tear him apart!” Jack exclaimed running into the fray her biotics flaring as she unleashed one of her more powerful combos.

“Move in!” Amalia called and we pushed up and kept our fire on the only one left in the room to take down. After some time Kureck finally went down. “Damn Blood Pack”

“They’re always like that” I said as Amalia looted the dead Krogan and Vorcha.

“The only thing left is this Aresh. And I bet anything he’s in my cell” Jack said staring at the door way to her cell.

“You think he may be a survivor of what happened here?” asked noting in my Omni-tool that a member of the Blood Pack was dead and out of the picture.

“We’ll just have to find out now won’t we?” Jack said. Amalia and I followed her into her cell to face this Aresh person.

“It really is you, Subject Zero” a male’s voice said full of surprise.

“And who the fucking hell are you!?” Jack asked in her special way.

“You don’t know me but I know you. We all knew you Jack” he went on. He sounded as if he was crazy. “I want to restart this facility. All the torture all the experimentation, it had to have been for something.”

“You’re out of you’re damned mind if you want to restart this place!”

“I would use the research, learn what they did” Aresh said as Jack pulled her pistol out on him.

“I will kill you, you son of a bitch!”

“Jack wait!”

“No, Shepard! He plans on torturing more kids with this place. I won’t let him do it!” Jack yelled. I could see her trigger finger tremble.

“No, Jack. I can promise you that we won’t let him do that. This doesn’t have to end in any more bloodshed.” Amalia tried to reason with her.

“Amalia’s is right Jack. We can end this once and for all, that way no more children have to suffer the way you or the others did” I said trying to help with what little I could.

“But if we let him go…”

“Jack, I promise you that I will make sure he is taken into Spectre custody and that he is taken to a high security mental facility. He obviously is crazy” I told her my voice calm but stern. I could feel Amalia’s hand on my arm; I couldn’t believe what I was saying.

“What?! NO! I will resurrect this place and you can’t stop me” Aresh called out pulling a pistol. Before he was able to pull the trigger my reflexes and instincts kicked in and shot the human in the skull. Jack and Amalia both looked at me in slight shock.

“…like a said Shepard, real winner” Jack smiled holstering her pistol.

“Yeah…what happened?” Amalia asked.

“I tried”

“I know I’m proud of you for that at least. You do know that, that is on you right?” Amalia asked trying to look me in the eyes; I nodded trying to get her to focus on Jack. “He was crazy and you did what you were trained to do.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Go see if Jack is ready to be done with this place, because I know I am.” I said finally looking at her. Damn her charm and ability to make everything seem as if there was a reason for everything. She always found a way to justify not only her actions but the actions of us. I admired her for that but it also frightened me in a way. What frightened me the most was how I was semi able to see things her way for once.

Amalia and Jack took a walk around the cell and to a few spots outside the cell. Jack remembered how she got out, how she just made a mad break for it and everything else. Jack then set the bomb within her cell and we made our way back to the KODIAK. On the KODIAK Jack fidgeted with the detonator to the bomb she set in the facility. As if sensing what Jack was about to do Amalia pounded on the cockpit door to get the pilot to go faster. Seconds later Jack pressed the button and the Teltin Cerberus Facility was up in flames, the forest surrounding it up in flames with it.

 

Back on the Normandy I found Amalia sitting hunched over her email in out cabin. Reading over her shoulder I saw that Cerberus Intel had sent her a message from the Illusive Man. Covering up the survivors as survivors of a Slaver attack and that the remaining doctors were forcibly retired due to their actions. “No small consolation is it?” I asked running my talons down her arms.

“No, but at least with some of the kids going to the Ascension Project we know that they got some better treatment.” Amalia said leaning back. “Thanks for not letting the Aresh guy shoot us”

“He was crazy. And I tried it your way first” I said

“I know, maybe that way isn’t for you. Maybe you should stick to being the cynical voice of opposition?” she said looking up at me.

“Maybe that’s a good idea love” I said nuzzling the top of her head.

“I’m going to go make my rounds. I’ll have Rupert make us something and we can try to have a quiet dinner” She said standing up, giving me a quick kiss and heading out the door.

I watched her leave. A quiet dinner would be nice. It might be the only one we get for a while with all the running around we will be doing. “Nihlus?” Tali came over the comm.

“What is it Tali?”

“Is Shepard free? I really need to speak with her.”

I pressed a few buttons on my Omni-tool “She’s with Thane at the moment, I’ll shoot her a message to stop by when she’s done”

“Thank you. I know I can talk to you Nihlus but I’d rather talk with Shepard about this I’m sorry” she said before blipping off. She sounded distracted. Hopefully whatever it was it was small and something that could be handled quickly.

 

I was wrong. We were on our way to meet with the Flotilla. Tali had been accused of treason of some sort and they would not give her any details. “So this is what the Quarian Flotilla looks like” Joker commented as we approached.

“I’ve never seen it up close myself” I said. I couldn’t be angry at Tali, treason was a large offence, even within the Flotilla as closed off as they were from the rest of everyone. Amalia and I had barely finished our dinner before Joker had called us to the bridge.

“Cerberus Vessel Identify yourself” a Quarian voice came over the comm.

“Oh shit that’s right” Joker spat as Tali paced and opened a comm for her.

“After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began” Tali said.

“Tali’Zorah…welcome back.” The communications officer seemed a bit surprised at her voice.

“Yes, it is me. We are not clean will need scrub” Tali told him

“Of course, proceed to docking bay and Captain Kar’Danna will meet you and your crew” with that the officer blipped out.

“So far so good” Amalia said beside Tali.

“Oh Shepard I have a bad feeling about this” Tali said as we began to dock.

“It’ll be fine Tali, we’ll figure this out, we always do”

I felt a bit out of the loop, Tali was good at hiding her tracks from me and making sure I couldn’t trace any of her activity. Being accused of treason with no probable cause was just unheard of though. We needed to find out what was going on as soon as we docked. Until then Tali would be nothing more than a ball of anxiety.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. I guess i've gotten so much done is because i'm staying at a friend's house since my car got towed and have a bit of free time.   
> but yes again thank you all for reading and i hope you enjoyed.   
> see you all next time. :D

**Author's Note:**

> in still getting used to the new work schedule, this might take me as long as the last one, i'm not sure, since i'm hand writting most of it before sitting down to type. any way i hope you all enjoyed it and see you all in chapter 2.


End file.
